SATURDAY’S ALL-IRELAND ROUND 4B qualifier against Cork will come too soon for Donegal midfielder Neil Gallagher.
The Glenswilly man has not played for club or county in almost five months, since sustaining an injury in the Allianz Football League game against Roscommon in Letterkenny on March 13.
Gallagher has had a couple of set-backs since, the most recent when he injured a shoulder at county training in June, but he has returned to full-contact training again in the last week.
However, it seems unlikely that Gallagher will be thrust immediately back into combat.
“Big Neil is back in full-contact training, but it’s probably a bit too early,” Donegal manager Rory Gallagher conceded to Donegal Sport Hub.
“Neil has been unfortunate enough that things have been building up with him. It’s been kind of one thing after the other and he just hasn’t got a run of maybe three weeks of training together.”
Darach O’Connor is in a similar boat with the Buncrana attacker also unlikely to see game time in Croke Park, although the manager reported that he is back in full training again.
[adrotate group=”53″]Frank McGlynn and Rory Kavanagh, who shipped minor knocks during the Ulster SFC final defeat to Tyrone in Clones, are not considered doubtful having made their respective returns to training by last weekend.
“Everyone who was involved in the Ulster final is good to go,” Rory Gallagher confirmed.
“Overall, the fitness of the squad is as good as it has been this year.”
[adrotate group=”70″]The winners of Saturday’s qualifier will advance to meet All-Ireland champions and favourites Dublin in a quarter-final seven days later.
“This isn’t about getting to play Dublin,” the Donegal manager said.
“It’s about getting into an All-Ireland quarter-final. That in itself is a huge incentive.
“We’re going there this weekend with the focus and belief on getting to a quarter-final. We feel that we can create a big performance, but we’d take a one-point win now.”
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