McNally faces six week lay-off

Drogheda United defender Alan McNally has been ruled out of action for up to six weeks after picking up a knee injury last week.

The 30-year-old will go for a scan tonight on a knock that he aggravated last week and which may require an operation on torn cartilage.

“I got injured in training last Saturday week which put me out for seven to 10 days with medial ligament damage but it was nothing too serious,” he said. “But then on Friday I injured it again pretty badly and had a scan on it in Drogheda and will be going to a specialist tonight.

“The physio thinks I could be out for four to six weeks and I’ll know more after going to the specialist in Santry but it is probably likely that it will be about six weeks because I might need an operation on the torn cartilage in my knee to sort it. Then, hopefully, when I am ready I can get back on the bike and into the swimming pool and ease back into training.”

The injury is doubly frustrating for the man who joined the Drogs in 2009 and immediately took up the captaincy as he is missing the Setanta Cup (which he desperately wanted to play in) and the opening league games but also after he put in all of his pre-season preparations.

He stated: “Missing the Setanta Cup is really disappointing because I have never played in it before so I was looking forward to that. And it would have been good getting the game in on Monday and then going up to Portadown but hopefully the lads can get through it and I might still have a chance of playing in it when I return.

“It’s difficult missing the start of the season too because we have some big games there, like St Pats, but on the other hand it could have been a lot worse and I hope to be back by mid-March so you have to look at the positives,” he continued. “I did all of my pre-season training though and running and fitness on my own before we started but I suppose I am not missing too much.”

The ex-UCD man is also confident that teammates will be able to step in during his absence and that he should not be missed too much while he is sidelined.

“It is a good squad that Mick [Cooke] has and there is good cover in it at centre-half. Alan Byrne is capable, as are the other lads, of playing there and I am not guaranteed a start,” said McNally. “There’s three players pushing for the position and there is a lot of competition for places which is good and that augers well for the season.”