DONEGAL UNDER-21 MANAGER Declan Bonner has confirmed news on Conor Doherty’s injury.
Doherty left O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny on Saturday in an ambulance having sustained what some thought might’ve been a rib injury in the closing stages of Donegal’s 1-9 to 1-8 win over Mayo in the North-West Under-21 Cup.
The Kilcar teen, who had come on for Luke Gavigan on 21 minutes before being replaced by Mark Coyle four minutes from time, was accompanied by his parents as he headed for Letterkenny General Hospital.
“Conor got home on Saturday night,” Bonner said last night. “He did an x-ray and it turned out just to be a muscular spasm, which is a relief. The injury is not as bad as first feared. Conor was in a lot of pain and we feared it could be a rib injury, which could’ve been serious. But he will rest up now for a bit and will be back in a few days.”
Bonner’s Donegal are already without a host of inside forwards with Rory Carr (shoulder), Darach O’Connor (cruciate) and Jamie Brennan (hamstring) all currently sidelined. Lorcan Connor will be out for a “week to to days” according to his manager, having been replaced on Saturday with a hamstring complaint.
It’s a similar injury that has been keeping the likes of Tony McClenaghan and Aidan Sweeney on the fringes.
With Mayo already in the final on score difference, Fermanagh – whose fixture on Saturday against Sligo was postponed – need to win the rescheduled encounter by 10 points on Tuesday at the Sligo Centre of Excellence to catch Donegal for the right to play Mayo in the final this coming weekend.
“We’d love another game against Mayo,” Bonner said. “They’re a quality side but we will just have to wait and see what happens on Tuesday.”
