Darach O’Connor begins his road to recovery after cruciate operation

DARACH O’CONNOR WAS UNDER the knife this morning as he begins his road to recovery from a cruciate injury.

‘Jigger’ was at Santry Sports Clinic in Dublin for the operation and will return home to Buncrana tomorrow.

The 19-year-old picked up the knee injury last month and will face a long lay-off, generally of nine months, which is a blow not only to his club Buncrana but also to Donegal senior team manager Rory Gallagher ahead of the Dr McKenna Cup and Allianz League Division One, and to Donegal Under-21 boss Declan Bonner.

However, the teen was in good spirits today.

“Finally got the operation done,” he said today. “Thanks for all the messages and cards – looking forward to getting recovery started.”

O’Connor will be joined on the sidelines by Termon goalkeeper Michael Boyle, who suffered a similar injury at club training.

O’Connor started to 2014 All-Ireland final against Kerry having scored a fine goal against Antrim in the Ulster semi-final (see below) but endured a frustrating 2015 with injury.

https://wwwyoutube.com/watch?v=jaFKJ-3Kib8