Dublin centre back Jonathan Magee will miss next month's Leinster football final against Kildare. He picked up a serious knee injury during last weekend's semi-final win over Meath and will struggle to be back before the All-Ireland semi-finals, should Dublin reach the last four.
"Jonny's torn lateral ligaments in his knee and done collateral damage to his cruciate," said team manager Tommy Lyons yesterday. "He kept playing through the pain on Sunday. We're expecting him to be out for six weeks at least. Until the lateral ligament stabilises we won't know the damage done to the cruciate.
"I'm very upset for him. I got him to lose weight and change his lifestyle and he did that for me and lost two stone. You'd always miss a man showing that sort of commitment."
Magee's brother Darren and wing back Peadar Andrews have both filled in at centre back, but neither would be at home in the position. Paul Curran has also played there, but mostly at club level. At present recovering from a knee injury, Curran might struggle to be fit before July 14th.