Republic of Ireland officials have claimed they contacted the Canaries over the international availability of Anthony Pilkington following Wes Hoolahan's injury withdrawal from the squad for this week's scheduled friendly against Serbia.

Hoolahan was drafted into Giovanni Trapattoni's party for the trip to Belgrade on Friday afternoon as a late call-up for Everton's Darron Gibson.

However, the Dubliner pulled out of the squad within a matter of hours due to the Achilles problem that kept him out of City's final two pre-season games of the summer. The FAI, however, confirmed on their official website over the weekend Trapattoni had been keen to run the rule over Hoolahan's team-mate Pilkington.

The 24-year-old, who has one Republic U21 cap to his name earned back in 2008, was unable to link up with the Irish squad in Dublin on Sunday night due to what the FAI stated was a hamstring problem suffered in a 67th-minute outing in Norwich's weekend 2-0 friendly defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach.

Trapattoni's assistant Marco Tardelli visited Carrow Road on more than one occasion last season to check on City's Irish-qualified contingent.

�Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given has announced his retirement from international football after over 16 years of service.

Given made his debut for his country in March 1996 and went on to represent the Republic a record 125 times. The Aston Villa number one was omitted from Giovanni Trapattoni's squad for the friendly against Serbia on Wednesday.