Soccer News: Just five days before their meeting with Longford Town in the FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road there was a sense of shock and sadness among the players, officials and supporters of St Patrick's Athletic yesterday after it was announced Ugandan international Charles Mbabazi Livingstone had been forced to retire from the game due to heart problems.

The 24-year-old had undergone tests at St James' hospital since being forced out of Friday's league game against Bohemians with severe chest pains and on Monday evening he was told his condition could be life threatening if he attempted to play competitive sport again.

Club chairman Andy O'Callaghan said last night that he, and everybody else associated with the club, was devastated by the news. In an official statement, however, he insisted Mbabazi would continue to have a future at Richmond Park and he would be discussing ways with him over the coming days in which the African's talents could be put to use in the future.

"Charles has been a wonderful servant of this club," said O'Callaghan. "It is a huge shock and disappointment to him that he has been forced to retire so suddenly but he has a young family and the consultations with the doctors left him in no doubt that this was the correct course. We are upset to lose him as a player. However, our loss is nothing compared to the cruel way in which his career as a professional footballer has been cut short."

A particular favourite of supporters at Richmond Park, Mbabazi was an exciting player, displaying pace, great close control and, occasionally, an eye for a spectacular goal since being signed by former manager Pat Dolan.

He was, through no fault of his own, one of the key figures in the registration controversy of the season before last that ultimately cost the club the league title.

Former Ireland international Keith O'Neill, meanwhile, has also be forced to retire from the game with the 27-year-old Dubliner admitting defeat after a long battle with a back injury that has limited him to just seven minutes of first-team football this year.

"As you can imagine," he said yesterday in a statement issued through Coventry City, "I feel robbed of my best footballing years but I have been lucky enough to live out a dream for the last 10. I've also been fortunate enough to work alongside the world's best players and managers, that's been a great honour.

"I wish Coventry every success for the future and am sorry I've not been able to contribute greatly over the last couple of years but for that, I can only apologise."

O'Neill had been jeered on his last appearance for Coventry, against Nottingham Forest in August when he came on as a second-half substitute only to break down again almost immediately, with supporters having become frustrated by the persistent injury problems of a player who was one of the club's top earners.

Since moving from Middlesbrough two years ago O'Neill had managed just 12 first-team appearances due, in part, to a catalogue of mishaps.

Having first made his name at Norwich where his pace and ball control marked him out as outstanding prospect during the early years of his career, O'Neill was capped 13 times by Mick McCarthy who at one stage saw him as having the potential to play up front. He scored four times for Ireland but drifted out of the reckoning as his injury problems continued to disrupt his career.

"Finally," he said yesterday, "I retire content that I have had the opportunity to play football for the greatest nation in the world."

Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland under-17s lost their opening game of the European Championship qualifiers 2-1 to Austria in Grenchen, Switzerland, yesterday evening. Austria scored twice in the last 10 minutes.

Ian Morris pulled one back for the Republic from the penalty spot with three minutes remaining.