Sutcliffe a big loss for Dublin hurlers

No Danny Sutcliffe and no Gary Maguire, and probably no Liam Rushe or David Treacy either – as if Dublin’s trip to Wexford Park on Saturday evening wasn’t already challenging enough.

Although the Leinster champions will still start as favourites, manager Anthony Daly won’t be starting either Sutcliffe or Maguire: Sutcliffe, their 2013 All Star forward, last week underwent further surgery on a broken hand sustained playing for his club last month, while 2011 All Star goalkeeper Maguire is still nursing a broken thumb, also sustained when playing for his club. Alan Nolan plays in goal.

Rushe’s hamstring injury means he’s in a race against time to be fit, and Treacy, is carrying a quad muscle injury, having endured a cruciate injury in the past.

Biggest loss

Sutcliffe represents perhaps the biggest loss, as there’s no guarantee he’ll be back for the Leinster final, either – should Dublin progress: he was originally hopeful of making the Wexford game, when speaking to this newspaper a few weeks ago.

“I’m aiming for that, but I am probably pushing it a bit, to be honest,” he said.

Elsewhere the list of cruciate ligament injury victims grew with the news Roscommon forward Donie Shine is now likely to miss the rest of the season. Shine was stretchered off 54 minutes into Sunday’s defeat to Mayo in the Connacht football semi-final, with a ruptured posterior cruciate ligament.

Not quite as serious as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), it still means an extended spell of rehabilitation for the Clan Na Gael forward. This news comes less than 24 hours after Meath midfielder Conor Gillespie also confirmed that he would miss the rest of the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament at training over the weekend.