McGovern dealt very cruel blow

LIAM OG McGovern’s season lies in ruins with a recurring cruciate knee injury.

The St. Anne’s clubman had battled his way through twelve months of rehab as the result of the initial injury to work his way into manager Davy Fitzgerald’s plans for the provincial championship.

Having just played the closing stages in the quarter-final victory over Laois, in his first competitive appearance this year, McGovern was figuring highly in the manager’s plans for that provincial semi-final clash with Kilkenny.

However, in an A versus B game on the Saturday evening before the game, McGovern turned quickly in possession of the ball and suddenly slumped to the ground in agonising pain.

Having been stretchered off the pitch, his worst fears were realised last Tuesday on a visit to the Santry Clinic when he was diagnosed with a recurring knee cruciate injury, the same cruciate that had broken down twelve months earlier.

‘I had him earmarked for a crucial role against Kilkenny,’ remarked Fitzgerald who was devastated at the player’s injury and the premature ending to his season.

McGovern will undergo surgery shortly, before beginning another period of rehab, but he will be out of the game for the next twelve months, a huge blow to the player, his club and county.

Elsewhere on the injury front, Oylegate-Glenbrien’s Damien Reck is making steady progress with his ankle problem.

Sitting his Leaving Certificate examination at the moment, the Leinster final could come too quickly for the wing-back, but he can be looking forward to a return in time for the All-Ireland series.

Wexford have returned to training in preparation for the Leinster final meeting with the winners of Galway and Offaly who meet next weekend.

The strength-in-depth of the squad has been further added to by the return of Shane Tomkins and Andrew Shore, while St. Martin’s youngster Rory O’Connor, who was in the match-day squad for the Kilkenny victory, is likely to push his case over the coming weeks.

O’Connor is another player who is sitting his Leaving Certificate at the present time, in St. Peter’s College.