GLENS HERO JAY HITS BRICK WALL
McKay misses Cup tie with his ankle injured...
RUTHERGLEN Glencairn ‘s 3-2 league win over Shettleston has come at a heavy cost with livewire frontman Jay McKay set to miss this weekend’s Scottish Junior Cup tie with North Region outfit Stonehaven.
The 27-year-old fan favourite had played on after receiving treatment for a painful ankle injury in the early stages at Greenfield Park yet no sooner had he scored a sensational 65th minute goal to put his side 2-1 ahead than he was spotted signalling to the Glens bench that his game time was up.
“A Shettleston player has made a terrific block tackle just as I’ve put everything into an attempted shot at goal and it felt like I’d kicked a brick wall” said the Parkhead based ace now in his second season with the Ru’Glonians.
“It was a sore one and I should probably have called it a day then and there but just couldn’t bring myself to come off with the teams tied at 1-1 and with everything still to play for.
“Going on to score a goal and help us win the game made the pain worthwhile at the time however you wouldn’t have got me to admit as much later when my ankle became heavily bruised and was the size of a tennis ball.
“There’s a very fine line between bravery and stupidity and I might have just crossed it on Saturday particularly as our physio reckons there’s damage to my ankle ligaments which look like keeping me sidelined for a couple of weeks at least.”
Sitting out the third-round tie against Stonehaven is a sickener for McKay, desperate for a Junior Cup run in light of his experiences with previous clubs St Anthony’s, Bellshill Athletic and Rossvale having been short-lived.
He revealed: “The ironic thing is Willie Harvey persuaded me to sign for the Glens in 2012, but I never gave myself time to settle and a matter of months later was back playing with my former club at Broomhouse Amateurs just as Glencairn set off on a terrific run to the semi-finals where they lost out to eventual winners Auchinleck Talbot.
“The following season I returned to the Juniors with the Ants and moved on to Bellshill under Robert Downs before his joining Arthurlie led to me signing for Rossvale when Martin Lauchlan was manager.
“Throughout all these years , Willie Harvey had persisted in trying to get me back to the Glens, so I eventually gave in to his many phone calls at the start of last season but a part of me always wonders what might have happened if I’d just have stayed put the first time.
“A decent Cup run is certainly not beyond the current squad of players because on our day we possess the experience and energy to o give anyone a game of it.
“Stonehaven have shown themselves to be no pushovers after coming down and knocking out Cambuslang Rangers in the last round and we need to be at the very top of our game against them but if we can just get past this hurdle then who knows?”
RUTHERGLEN assistant boss Joe Price confirmed his striker’s absence i n saying:”Jay doesn’t come off easily so I knew his was a bad injury on Saturday.
“Stonehaven is a no-no for him but we’ll just need to see how h h he responds d to treatment and the same applies to Jamie Hamilton and Andy Neil over the coming week.
“On the bright side we have Liam Gormley recovered from injury and only needing game time to get his sharpness back.”
Meanwhile, Darvel have appointed ex-Ayr United Youth coach Graeme Neil as their new team manager to replace Scott “Paddy” Clelland and making a surprise return to Irvine Meadow is former manager Gareth Turner , reinstated as a coach under former team mate Brian McGinty.