Ankle injury rules Martyn out of Sligo’s Connacht bid

SLIGO’S hopes of reaching a first Connacht final in three years have been dealt a huge blow with the loss of defender Johnny Martyn to an ankle injury.

Niall Carew’s side face Roscommon this Saturday, and 11 weeks after their last league game, they become the final football team in the country to launch their provincial championship.

Already without All-Star Charlie Harrison for the season with an cruciate ligament injury, Carew has received another massive setback with the confirmation that Martyn looks set to miss the next two months with the ligament issue.

Martyn only made his comeback recently after he suffered a stroke in the middle of last year’s championship and was forced to undergo heart surgery in January, but Carew says he is leaving the door open for the defender to return as soon as he is fit.

Marty initially picked up the ankle injury playing a club league game for St Mary’s two weeks ago, but scans last week revealed he had ruptured the ankle, which rules him out of the Markievicz Park clash.

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“It’s a huge blow for Johnny,” said Carew. “He picked up the injury playing with his club and had tried to go back doing some light training. But after it settled down we had a scan done on it and it showed he has ruptured ligaments.

“He is a huge loss for us, but for him personally it’s tough too. For him to be playing football at all and being in contention for us so soon was amazing.

“Unfortunately, when you have a major operation like that other things suffer. Hopefully, he’ll be back with us for the tail end of the summer because he is such a good lad and a terrific player,” said the Sligo boss.

Apart from Martyn’s latest injury, Carew has reported a clean bill of health for the clash with John Evans’ side, who were recently promoted to Division 1.