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Ireland sweat over O'Mahony's fitness

Cape Town - Ireland flanker Peter O’Mahony may miss his side's clash with Fiji on Saturday as he is struggling with an ear injury that required stitches after last weekend’s record defeat of South Africa.

READ: Ollie: I'm no racist but Allister has to go

Even if the Munster captain is declared fit, he may sit out the November international to be rested, with flankers Jordi Murphy and Sean Reidy both drafted into the squad following injuries to Tommy O’Donnell and Dan Leavy.

Prop John Ryan is out along with Keith Earls.

A number of minor knocks were reported among the remainder of the matchday 23, but they are all due to train throughout the week.

In three previous meetings with the Pacific Islanders, Ireland have claimed massive 44-8 (1995), 64-17 (2002) and 41-6 (2009) victories.

Fiji suffered a 19-10 defeat to Italy last week, who handed a first cap to residency-qualified Ian McKinley. The former Leinster player has continued his incredible recovery from an injury that left him blind in his left eye seven years ago.

McKinley’s former Leinster team-mate Rob Kearney said he was inspired to see the 27-year-old on the international stage.

"It was a very heart-rending story and a huge amount of people were touched by it," he told the Daily Mirror.

"To see him come on and kick a penalty was obviously massive for him but a huge amount of people had a soft spot for the story and it was really nice to see.

"And he is a really great guy, it was great to see the amount of resilience and commitment over the years and you can really only admire him for that."

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