CONTRARY to initial fears, the knee injury sustained by Niall Quinn in Sunderland's 1-0 home win over Coventry on Saturday does not appear to be quite so ominous. Although the Republic of Ireland attacker must be considered very doubtful for the forthcoming World Cup qualifier against Macedonia on October 9th, he has not yet ruled himself out of contention for that game.
Quinn will undergo a scan tomorrow when the full extent of the injury will be revealed but he is already comforted in the knowledge that it is not akin to the damaged cruciate knee ligaments which sidelined him for a year and forced him to miss the 1994 World Cup finals.
"I'm back up to Sunderland in the morning to get it scanned but I don't think it's as bad as the last time. I hope to God it's not," said Quinn from his home yesterday, where he was in relatively good spirits. "It's quite stiff today but the last time I was in far more pain and what have you, so I think I may have tweaked something. That's the hope.
"It happened in a similar way to the last time. I just got caught. I think Daishy [Irish colleague Liam Daish] got a blame in one of the papers but it was nothing to do with him. He was challenging me when I twisted it. I turned and the studs stayed facing the way I was standing. It was exactly the same as what happened the last time but not as severe.
"It's a different leg as well. It's the other [right] leg. It'll be stronger, so that's something. It's meant to be the good leg," said Quinn.
If that was the case, then Quinn conceivably might not even need arthroscopic (keyhole) surgery, an operation after which Roy Keane was able to resume playing within five weeks. "I'm hopeful at this stage that it mightn't even be that," said Quinn.
Thus there remains a possibility that he could recover in time for the Macedonia game, next Wednesday fortnight. "I would say I'd be struggling at the moment but again, I'll know tomorrow."
