DONEGAL MANAGER Rory Gallagher has ruled Neil Gallagher out of contention for Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin.
The Glenswilly man hasn’t played since Donegal’s Allianz League defeat to Roscommon in March.
The midfielder sustained a back injury in the week leading up to that game.
The injury was aggravated against Roscommon and, while he put that injury to bed, a subsequent shoulder injury has delayed his comeback.
[adrotate group=”37″]Gallagher has resumed training, but expecting him to feature against Dublin will be a case of too much too soon.
“He just hasn’t enough work done,” Rory Gallagher confirmed.
“He just wouldn’t be at the pace of it. We are doing such limited football and he really hasn’t trained since the start of March consistently.
[adrotate group=”38″]“He is just taking it very slowly, but thankfully he is on the mend, that is the way we are looking at it.
“He is just working his way back. He has very little training done, obviously in the likes of these weeks we aren’t doing much training. Since the Ulster Final it has been limited in what we have done. So getting up to match speed is going to be difficult for him.”
The player has no club football behind him and it will be an All-Ireland semi-final – should Donegal topple the Dubs this weekend – before the Glenswilly giant will be back in the matchday squad.
Rory Gallagher said: “I think most teams wouldn’t like to see him playing because he gives you that presence in the middle of the field. It means you can just go route one to horse it out.
“If we get over this weekend he should be fine then.”
