IRELAND’S U20s HAVE been dealt yet another serious blow with news that stand-in skipper Cillian Gallagher looks set to miss the rest of this year’s Six Nations with a shoulder injury.
The Connacht back row injured his AC joint during Ireland’s 27-26 defeat of Italy at Stadio Enrico Chersoni 11 days ago and is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.
Gallagher had only been promoted to skipper in the absence of regular captain Jack Kelly, who missed the narrow win against the Italians with a shoulder injury sustained in the one-point victory against Scotland in Ireland’s opening fixture.
Kelly isn’t expected to be fit for Friday night’s game against France at Donnybrook [8pm, RTÉ2] either but it is hoped that the fullback will be available for the clash against Wales on 11 March.
“I don’t think he’s too far off, it’s not a serious injury,” scrum coach Conor Twomey said of Kelly.
“He won’t get France and I’m not too sure if he’ll get Wales.
“Any of these shoulder injuries, they can go three weeks, four weeks, six weeks.
“When they hit contact again will depend but I think the prognosis is good on that AC joint.”
The French are expected to offer a much sterner test on the 4G Donnybrook pitch this Friday, as their tails will be up following their 36-8 victory against the Scots last time out.
Head coach Thomas Lievremont, a brother of former French senior chief Marc, fielded a much-changed line-up in Grenoble after beginning their campaign with a woeful 59-17 defeat at the hands of England.
There has also been some good news on the injury front for Ireland however, as Munster out-half Bill Johnston, fresh from helping Garryowen to a 17-16 UBL Division 1A League win against UCD, could play on Friday after making his return from an ankle injury in recent weeks.
Exciting Ulster back Rob Lyttle could also get game time against France after also proving his fitness.
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Letting Lucas go to Napoli would be a huge mistake. Lucas has been a key player for Liverpool this season. He does the dirty work very well and yes he will get booked every 2nd game but he’s good at what he does. Liverpool have lost most of the games they’ve played without Lucas which is another key factor in him staying. Also replacing him with Delph? Another over rated English centre mid who produced a handful of decent appearances last season but nothing to capture the imagination.
Yep was just going to say it man. To be honest last summer I’d have let him go but he’s been the difference since coming back at the end of November. I think the only game we’ve lost since has been man utd and he wasn’t playing that day….
Letting him go now would be a mistake especially if they think they can replace him with Delph! Who’s more like for like with Joe Allen than Lucas anyway.
Which leads me to my next point… Sell Joe Allen
Who in their right mind would buy Joe Allen though? Unless Rodgers gets the sack and buys him for his next club..
Lol
In sure Swansea would take him off Liverpool’s hands for 5 million……
If someone pays 5 million for him I’d be amazed!
‘Müller to Manchester United’ anyone who believes this should read the book Pep: Confidential, and that’ll end all rumours. Guardiola holds Müller in the highest regard and has big plans for the future, over time he wants him to pay much deeper in midfield, doubt he’d sacrifice those plans to sell him to United
You’re probably right but we reds can dream! He looks enough like Lahm that we could stick him at right back and he’d still be exponentially better than Rafael…
United don’t need him anyway, they already have 4 players who play in largely the same position.
I wonder will sanogoal keep up his record at palace
Transfer window is already boring,pure fantasy to sell their crummy red tops.
If Rodgers sells Lucas to Napoli I think questions will have to be asked about this man. He’s already driven Suso out of the club, a player who deserves much more game time and would run circles around players like Borini who’ve started ahead of him. He also got rid of Agger, yet kept Kolo, and despite lots of investment in our back4 we’re actually worse than last season.
His persistent refusal to get a decent defensive coach in is costing our team valuable points because of his ignorance to the fact that he can’t organise a defence, never mind to the standards of other defense-organising managers like Simeone or Mourinho. If Lucas goes, we have little hope of top4 imo, he’s one of the only decent defensive mids we have and is much better than rodger’s favourite, Joe Allen.
Remember when Benitez took a huge gamble trying to sign Gareth Barry and disillusioned Xabi?!
Didn’t sign Barry and Xabi fooked off!!
Lucas is far more experienced than Delph, I’d sign him and hold onto Delph and let him gain experience while he is there for the rest of the season!
Despite the Champions League success, I still cannot find it in me to not hate Rafa over losing Xabi Alonso. He did his best to lose that final too by not starting Didi Hamann!
Heard a rumour that I’m going to sign for galway Utd….but fifa 15 denies it…
Delph…Jasus. Not impressed if this happens