Soccer:David Meyler's hopes of forcing his way into Giovanni Trapattoni's plans for the remaining Euro 2012 qualifiers suffered a hammer blow last night after the Sunderland midfielder sustained cruciate knee ligament damage for a second time in his career.

The former Cork City youngster has hit the headlines with a string of impressive performances in recent weeks but will now miss the rest of the season.

The 21-year-old pulled up suddenly just before half-time in the 1-0 at Aston Villa and had to be stretchered off. His manager Steve Bruce later confirmed Meyler had sustained more knee ligament damage and will be out of action for at least six months.

“We’re really pleased with the result, but the downside for us in the injuries and the really sour note is the injury to young David Meyler,” said Bruce. “He is devastated and we are devastated for him.”

Bruce believes the heavy festive programme is to blame for such setbacks. He added: “In the Premier League you get players having to play five games in 13 days and players are picking up injuries through fatigue. I’ve been saying it for a month now, if you ask players to play tired, you get injuries.”

And the former Manchester United defender also questioned the wisdom of asking too much of a player who had only recently returned to full fitness after suffering the same injury at Old Trafford last April.

"It's the same knee, the right knee that he damaged last time and I'm left asking myself should I not have played him?,” Bruce admitted. "He was magnificent on Saturday against Blackburn Rovers and with Lee Cattermole out for the month, David was the only one I could ask to come in and do that sort of job. But I ask myself if I asked too much of him and I hope not."