If reports this morning are true, Dublin have been dealt a big blow ahead of their All Ireland quarter final with the news that James McCarthy has suffered knee ligament damage.
In a post match interview straight after Dublin’s Leinster final win last Sunday, Jim Gavin when asked about the extent of McCarthy’s injury, responded that he expected James to be fit for the quarter finals and that the injury was a minor contact injury to his quad.
But the news today is the Ballymun Kickhams star fell awkwardly in training and it was initially feared he had suffered a dreaded cruciate tear and was facing a lengthy spell out of the game and a long road to recovery.
But it is being reported that McCarthy has had scans done on his knee and they have revealed he has sustained less serious medial ligament damage.
The recovery time for the injury is anywhere between four to six weeks which will definitely rule McCarthy out of the All Ireland Quarter Final on the 6th of August against either Mayo, Donegal or Cork. If Dublin get through that game it will still be a race against time for McCarthy to be fully fit for the semi finals.
McCarthy’s absence along with that of Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey, will mean the Dubs will head into the quarters missing half of last seasons All Ireland winning defence and that will test how strong Jim Gavin’s squad really is.
Although the Dublin boss still seems to have plenty of back up and options if the McCarthy injury is as bad as it is feared, Gavin will be keeping his fingers crossed that there are no further injuries between now and the quarter finals, particularly to anymore of his defenders.
