Hammer blow for Tyrone as McShane faces five months on the sidelines

CATHAL McSHANE has suffered a cruel twist of fate, with a serious ankle injury set to see the Tyrone attacker ruled out of action for approximately five months.

The talented full-forward was stretchered off in Sunday’s Allianz FL Division 1 defeat to Galway before it was revealed that he had dislocated his ankle – it was later reset and put into a cast – after an awkward fall on the Tuam Stadium sod.

It comes just weeks after the 24-year-old committed his immediate future to Tyrone and turned down a switch to the AFL having spent some time trialling with the Adelaide Crows earlier this year.

His absence is a hammer blow for Red Hand boss Mickey Harte, who looks set to be without the Owen Roe O’Neill’s forward indefinitely. Barring a miraculous recovery, McShane will play no part in Tyrone’s Ulster SFC campaign – which commences against Donegal on May 17 – and they will have to progress to the Super 8s for him to feature.

McShane, who finished joint topscorer last season with a whopping 3-48, was the fulcrum of Tyrone’s attack and with captain Mattie Donnelly also on the sidelines, Harte is short of attacking nous and facing a difficult end to the League.

Clash

Meanwhile, Waterford hurling boss Liam Cahill is looking forward to testing his wits against his native Tipperary in this weekend’s Division 1 clash as the Déise eye a fourth successive victory in Semple Stadium.

“It’s a great chance for us again to see where we are at. Again, to try out new players. That’s the whole objective of the League. We’ve a couple more players to come back too, so the squad is nice and competitive,” Cahill said.

“There’s a good healthy atmosphere around at the moment. We’re in a League quarter-final, worst-case scenario, and that’s a really good opportunity to get a real competitive game before championship. We get the chance for a League semi-final or final, we’ll go at it all guns blazing.”

Elsewhere, Limerick’s hurlers have swapped Ireland for the sunshine of Portugal having maintained their unbeaten streak in this year’s League with a twopoint victory over Cork on Sunday.

The Treaty left yesterday morning for a training camp before returning this Saturday on the eve of their clash with Westmeath at the LIT Gaelic Grounds.