Cavanagh suffers cruel break

TYRONE midfielder Sean Cavanagh has chipped a bone in his ankle and will be out of action for at least six weeks.

Cavanagh landed awkwardly in a club game on Sunday evening, and is certain to miss the Bank of Ireland Ulster SFC semi-final against Antrim on June 15.

The towering midfielder faces a race against time to be fit for the Ulster final should the National League champions make it through to the decider on July 13 at Clones.

"It's a big blow after a great weekend, I'm very disappointed," Cavanagh admitted from his Moy home yesterday where, with his leg in plaster, he was struggling to come to terms with a cruel setback.

"But I just have to keep my head up and concentrate on recovering, and hopefully if we reach the Ulster final I could be back for that. That's what I'm setting my sights on.

"I'm getting some oxygen treatment which should speed up the healing process."

Tyrone midfield partner Cormac McAnallen was also in the wars at the weekend with a suspected fractured cheekbone, also sustained in a club game.

McAnallen, is expected to be fit to face Antrim in six weeks, but Red Hand manager Mickey Harte is devastated at the loss of Cavanagh.

"It's a disaster. If there was any player at the present time you didn't want injured, it's Sean Cavanagh. He had made midfield his own, playing very well, and obviously the more games he would get at that level, the better it would be for him," said Harte.

Meanwhile, Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney is no more than hopeful of making a comeback for the All-Ireland champions in the first round of the Bank of Ireland SFC qualifier competition on June 7 the draw for which will be made next Sunday evening.

McGeeney took no part in the shock Ulster championship defeat to Monaghan as a result of a hamstring injury which flared late in the league game against Cork and which he subsequently aggravated against Kerry. At this stage, I'm hoping to be able to play in the qualifier, but you just can't say."

Like manager Joe Kernan, he had no quibbles with the outcome of the Monaghan game. "We didn't play that well. In fairness to Monaghan, they did. That's just the story of championship football it's all on the day.

"It's hard not knowing who we are playing next, but we need to turn things around. We are not playing well. "Hopefully, we will get back on track, but you don't know. We could have anybody from Derry to Cork. We just have to watch our own patch and see what happens."

McGeeney is aware of the mounting speculation that time has caught up with the All-Ireland champions, that the demands of the previous seasons have taken a heavy toll.

Admitting it's a possibility, he insists that the players see things differently.

"Yes, we were there for four or five years. Everybody seemed to forget that when we got there last year because we were well written off. You can be mentally tired but it was just a case that we were poor on the day against Monaghan and the boys know that."

Meanwhile, Kernan was delighted with the commitment his team showed against Galway in Sunday's challenge game to mark the opening of the renovated Pearse Stadium.

"A challenge match is always only a challenge, but to us it was important that we stood up and be counted and, the boys certainly did that,'' he said.

"But this is only one step. We haven't regained anything yet but it's a good preparation for Saturday week. The whole team worked hard and played well.

"There were a lot of pluses and it was good for morale to win. We showed that we still have hunger for the game. And I can guarantee that this game will bring us on. This could be the turning point for us."

Meanwhile, Galway manager John O'Mahony was non-committal about the management's intentions in relation to Michael Donnellan, who played for the full game at centre-back.

It's clear that the position is proving difficult to fill on a reasonably permanent for the team, now that Tomás Mannion has severed his connection with the panel.

Even though he wasn't involved to a great extent in the game on Sunday, there's still a strong possibility Donnellan will be picked there for next Sunday's Connacht semi-final away to Leitrim.

Coman Goggins, who skippered Dublin to provincial championship success last year, has not made the starting 15 for Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final clash with Louth in Croke Park.

Paul Griffin and Bryan Cullen, who both impressed in the NFL, have been handed championship debuts while wing-back David Henry will make his first championship start.

DUBLIN (SF v Louth): S Cluxton; B Cahill, P Christie, P Griffin; D Henry, J Magee, C Moran; C Whelan, D Magee; B Cullen, S Ryan, S Connell; A Brogan, R Cosgrove, J McNally.