THERE ARE HUGE concerns that Louth’s Ciaran Byrne suffered damage to his cruciate in action for Carlton in the AFL against Collingwood in Melbourne today.

Collingwood triumphed 57-45 in the game at the MCG but Carlton’s loss was overshadowed by the potentially season-ending injury suffered by the young Irish man.

Byrne landed awkwardly after being challenged by an opponent after he had kicked the ball in the closing stages of the game.

He was in pain after injuring his right knee before being tended to by Carlton medics and then stretchered off.

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton revealed his concern afterwards, when asked by the club’s official website, if it was likely that Byrne had suffered an ACL injury.

“I’m pretty worried about that. I think all our coaching team, myself and the players as well, we spend a lot of hours together and when you invest so much time and effort together it does hurt emotionally.

“But we’ll support him and that’s all you can do. That’s the risk when you run out and play AFL footy.”

In August 2013, Byrne signed a two-year deal with Carlton as a rookie and he signed a new two-year contract with the club last October.

Byrne made his AFL debut against Essendon in April 2015 but then suffered injury problems for the rest of the 2015 season.

But this year he has made a real impact for Carlton and made 11 appearances in the AFL.

A long-term absence now through injury would be a major blow to Byrne’s AFL career.

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