Stack still an injury worry for Limerick

DEFENDER Tommy Stack remains an injury concern for the Limerick footballers ahead of Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC round four qualifier against Wexford.

However, manager Maurice Horan remains hopeful the Dromcollogher-Broadford man will be available for the Portlaoise clash. Stack was forced off in the 24th minute of last Saturday’s victory over Waterford, captain Barry Fitzpatrick coming on as his replacement, and while the exact nature of his injury has yet to be ascertained, he could still be in the frame.

“Tommy’s our main worry, but we’re hoping he’s okay”, revealed Horan.

“We don’t know the extent of the damage yet. Our physio and medical staff are looking at him, trying to pinpoint the problem. They’re not sure if he has torn his hamstring. We’ve to wait a few days for the swelling to go down before a clearer picture will emerge. We’ve a few other knocks, but, apart from Tommy, there is nothing too serious.”

In more positives news for the Limerick boss, experienced midfielder Jim O’Donovan is poised to challenge again for a place amongst the substitutes. O’Donovan carried an injury entering last month’s Munster semi-final defeat against Kerry and was forced to withdraw in the first-half of that game. That ruled him out of the qualifier win against Offaly 10 days ago, but he was on the bench for last Saturday’s qualifier win against Waterford.

“Jim is coming back into our plans the whole time. He has missed training, but is now getting back into it with us.

“He wouldn’t be at full fitness yet, but he is an option for us to throw on for a 10 or 15 minute period during a game. We would have used him the last day against Waterford if we felt the need to.”

Horan has been hugely impressed by the displays of opponents Wexford in the Leinster championship this season. He is also expecting a different game from the league tie between the counties in Newcastlewest in April which Limerick won 2-12 to 0-14, a result that cost Jason Ryan’s side promotion to Division 3.

“They’ve been extremely impressive and that’s four brilliant matches they have played this year in Leinster. They had Dublin under serious pressure a couple of weeks ago and, in their march to the Leinster final, they’ve been beating teams off the pitch.

“Jason Ryan seems to have ignited their attack. He’s got that scoring potential out of them and there’s scores coming from all angles. They’ve a lot of fellas capable of clocking up big scores and they’re going to be really difficult to beat.”