Manager Brian Barry-Murphy has provided an injury update in his latest interview…
Captain Eoghan O’Connell and Jimmy Ryan are set for a spell on the sidelines, whilst the news is more positive for Paul McShane.
“Eoghan damaged his hamstring quite badly [against Crewe]. Initial estimates suggest it’s a 4-6 week timescale, if not more, so that is a huge blow for us,” said BBM.
“That has been the trend of the season, in terms of when we have everyone fit, we’ve then lost another important player. But I think that’s pretty common throughout the leagues with the intensity of the games and the close proximity of the fixtures.
“While it’s common, it just means that in our situation we haven’t got the established players to replace them but we just deal with it and get on with it, and very much looking forward to whoever plays in that position on Saturday.”
He continued: “Jimmy Ryan’s knee injury is more complicated than we thought.
“That’s a problem because he is obviously a very important player for us, so we’re trying to get him fixed up as soon as possible, but at the moment it’s looking like he’ll be out for a prolonged spell. It’s looking more like months rather than weeks, which is real worry for us.
“To have two such important players sidelined at such a huge stage of the season is not ideal, but hopefully we can deal with it within our own squad and maybe towards the end of this window by adding a couple of players ourselves.”
BBM added: “It’s not straight forward for Paul [McShane] at the moment, every time he has almost been back. He obviously he came on against Crewe, but then he still wasn’t totally comfortable after that game and he had an issue in the warm-up at Charlton. He can’t seem to free himself of all of his tiny issues - we still give him a chance of being fit for tomorrow but it will be a very much a last minute decision.”