Luke Byrne and Dave McAllister out for the season but Trevor Clarke ramps up injury recovery for the Hoops

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley has confirmed that defender Luke Byrne and midfielder David McAllister will miss the rest of the season with injury.

The pair won't feature again for the Hoops in 2018 having been out of action since last July but had been expected to return to action, however neither will play a part before the end of the season.

In more positive news for the Hoops, Trevor Clarke is nearing a return from a cruciate knee ligament injury suffered against Waterford earlier in the season.

The wideman underwent surgery for damage sustained early in the 2-1 defeat to the Blues at the RSC and was initially set to miss the remainder of the season.

Bradley confirmed that the 20-year-old is back running having recovered more quickly than forecast and could be ready as early as October, but is more likely to have to wait until next year.

"Trevor Clarke is flying," said the manager.

"He's back running and doing a lot of pitch work. The problem is trying to hold Trevor back. He wants to be in the starting XI tomorrow.

"The problem is putting the reins on him and making sure we don't cut any corners. But he's well ahead of schedule.

"He's back running the last three weeks so he's doing really well. He could play next month but I don't think we should do that.

"We need to be careful and understand that he's a big player for us, our young player of the year last season and we've missed him and Graham Burke.



"We've got to look at next year for Trevor and make sure he's ready.