BURNLEY left-back Stephen Ward is a doubt for the Republic of Ireland's European Championship second round clash with France on Sunday.

Ward picked up an ankle injury early in the famous win over Italy on Wednesday night, but he managed to complete the full 90 minutes.

Ireland boss Martin O'Neill is hoping Ward's determination to be fit for the last-16 match with the hosts in Lyon could yet see him retain his place in the side, having come in for the 3-0 defeat to Belgium.

"Stephen picked up an injury in the first half and his ankle is well blown up at the moment," said O'Neill, "but he’s desperate to play and we’ll have a look at him."

Ward will face a race against time to be fit, with Ireland having just three days to prepare after victory over Italy secured their qualification as one of the best third place finishers.

France booked their place in the knockout stages on Sunday night and will have half a week longer to recover than Ireland.

O'Neill said: "It does seem a disproportionate amount of time that one team has to recover over another and that might become important but I do understand that as the host nation you should get some sort of favours and if the tournament was in Ireland then I would do the same thing; if the tournament was in Ireland, the other teams would have to play every night and Ireland wouldn’t have to play for a year."