JOEY CARBERY HAS likely played his last game for Munster, with the thumb injury he sustained against Ulster last Saturday expected to rule him out for the rest of the season.
The out-half was a first-half replacement for Rory Scannell in the win over Ulster, and played a central role as the province overturned a 10-point deficit to win 29-24 and secure top spot in the URC table.
However Carbery – who will leave the province and move to France this summer – suffered a thumb injury during the game which has ruled him out of Friday’s quarter-final meeting with Ospreys in Limerick.
And in a further blow, Munster defence coach Denis Leamy says the province don’t expect to have Carbery available should they reach the URC semi-finals or final – meaning the 28-year-old has likely played his last game for Munster.
“Yeah, unfortunately that’s what it looks like,” said Leamy, who added that both Rory Scannell (ankle) and Tom Ahern (ankle/leg) also won’t feature again this season.
“Unfortunately, it’s very unlikely any of the three you mentioned will be back.
“Three guys who have been really good for us in the last few months, but unfortunately, they’ve got significant injuries from the weekend. We’re possibly waiting to see if there’s something around Tom, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be back.
“Rory had a scan that confirmed there was a break on Saturday and he’s going for a further scan. So we’re just waiting for an update on that, but it is unfortunately a significant injury. We’re just looking for clarity around exactly what that is.”
Leamy said Ahern’s injury will also likely rule him out of any involvement in Ireland’s summer Tour to South Africa.
“My understanding is that there is another scan to be looked at in a couple of weeks, but he got a significant injury, and that’s very much in the balance I would say.”
In better news for the province, Antoine Frisch, Diarmuid Barron and Josh Wycherley all took part in training today.
Frisch missed the win over Ulster with a leg/groin problem but is expected to come back into contention for selection against Ospreys.
Hooker Barron hasn’t played since injuring his foot against Leinster on 26 December, while Wycherley hasn’t featured since April’s two-game trip to South Africa due to a facial injury.
“We trained today and all three came through the session and were looking pretty good. So we’ll just have a discussion around how we feel they’ve settled and obviously over the next 24 hours we’ll monitor them, but all three completed the session and were looking good.”
