Team News:Mark Davoren's championship campaign with Dublin came to an abrupt end after results from a scan revealed the Kilmacud Crokes forward tore his cruciate ligament during Sunday's Leinster SFC clash with Meath and is now ruled out for the rest of the summer.
Davoren picked up the unfortunate injury on his championship debut after he came down hard and fell awkwardly at Croke Park during Dublin’s narrow win over their old rivals. After some time wriggling on the ground it was clear he would play no further part in the game and was eventually stretchered-off and replaced by club mate Pat Burke.
“Unfortunately the results of the scan showed that he (Davoren) has torn a cruciate ligament,” the Dublin county board confirmed today. “Recovery will take several months and he will miss the rest of this year’s championship.”
The news comes as a blow to both the player and Pat Gilroy’s panel as the initial prognosis of the injury was not thought to be serious. However, the scan at Cappagh Hospital yesterday confirmed the worst for Davoren.
Davoren has played at underage county level and won the Leinster under-21 title with Dublin in 2003. His performances for Crokes as they won the All-Ireland club title on St Patrick’s Day fast-tracked his move through to the senior panel.
He made his senior debut at the end of March this year against Kerry in the National League.
Burke and Ciaran Whelan (Raheny) were struggling with calf strains recently, while Dermot Connolly (St Vincent’s) has been nursing a groin injury, but the trio featured in Sunday’s game and have reported no adverse affects.
Tomás Quinn (St Vincent’s) and Cian O’Sullivan (Kilmacud) had respective ankle and hamstring strains and were on the bench for Sunday’s game but both were expected to train tonight.
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 in Pairc Ui 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."