Davoren's summer over with cruciate ligament tear

GAELIC GAMES NEWS:THREE WORDS that Mark Davoren didn't want to hear – "cruciate ligament tear" – have realised his worst fears and ended his involvement with the Dublin footballers this summer. It's not only a huge personal blow for the young Kilmacud Crokes forward, but forces Dublin manager Pat Gilroy into another rethink of his attacking formation for the remainder of their campaign.

Despite some hopes Davoren’s injury was only minor ligament damage, yesterday’s results of a knee scan revealed otherwise. It’s likely he’ll undergo a corrective operation in the coming days, then face a lengthy period of rehabilitation – but he definitely won’t be playing any more football this summer, no matter how far Dublin progress.

He sustained the injury 20 minutes into the second half of Sunday’s Leinster quarter-final win over Meath, explaining afterwards that his “studs just planted in the ground, my lower leg stayed, and the body went the other way”. Ouch.

“Unfortunately the results of the scan showed that he (Davoren) has torn a cruciate ligament,” the Dublin County Board confirmed. “Over the next day or two, he will be talking in more detail to our medical team before deciding on the appropriate course of action. Recovery will take several months and he will miss the rest of this year’s championship.”

Having played a key role in Kilmacud Crokes winning this year’s club All-Ireland title, Davoren was called into the Dublin squad, making his senior debut against Kerry in the league. The only positive thing for Gilroy is that everyone else came through the Meath game relatively unscathed.

Pat Burke and Ciarán Whelan are still nursing calf strains but will be training as usual as Dublin await the winners of Sunday’s Wicklow-Westmeath clash in their semi-final on June 28th. Likewise Dermot Connolly (groin), Tomás Quinn (ankle) and Cian O’Sullivan (hamstring) are over the worst of their injuries – while on the longer-term injury list are James Brogan (ankle), Mark Vaughan (back) Liam Óg Ó hEineachain (hamstring) and Kevin Nolan (hip).

Kerry forward Tommy Walsh remains a little less sure of his prospects following his early retirement with an ankle injury in Sunday’s drawn Munster semi-final with Cork. While it seems unlikely he’ll be ready to start Saturday’s replay at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Walsh is still hopeful of playing some role.

“It happened the Friday week before the game,” he explained yesterday. “I was just going up for a ball, came down awkwardly, and twisted it. It responded reasonably well to treatment, it was going well all week and I thought it was fine and I just went in and jolted it again.

“It was the first ball I got, I took a stupid shot, and turned awkwardly on it. I just tried to run it off but the pain was getting worse. I had it strapped and everything but it just didn’t hold up. It’s a lateral ligament but at this stage it feels the way it felt before the first game, so I don’t know how it will hold up.”

Not surprisingly, Walsh admits Kerry will have to improve substantially to have any chance of beating Cork on the second count: “We weren’t happy with the way we played. We didn’t get out of the starting blocks at all. They were going forward in droves. If they had of taken their chances I suppose we would have been out of the game with 10 minutes to go. We are just happy to have another go at it.

“But Cork are getting better the whole time. They have new fellas coming in the whole time. I suppose you can say we improved as well, maybe not on the evidence of Sunday, but we have improved.”

Meanwhile, Wexford manager Jason Ryan goes into Saturday’s Leinster quarter-final against Kildare on the back of a horrible losing streak in the league – and also without the services of All Star forward Matty Forde. As expected, Forde is definitely ruled out after recently undergoing minor surgery on a back problem, and unless Wexford manage to progress to the latter stages his summer, like Davoren’s, could also be over.

Defender David Walsh is the other main absentee with an ankle injury.

• Cork's full back Eoin Cadogan, who made an impressive debut in the position, albeit in the loss to Tipperary, collected the GPA player of the month award for hurling yesterday.