Injury a 'huge blow' for Brennan and Lilywhites

Kildare manager John Crofton has described the Achilles tendon injury midfielder Killian Brennan suffered in Sunday's NFL Division One semi-final as "a huge blow."

Brennan, who hails from the Suncroft club, had been having an excellent season and was thriving on the responsibility of being Kildare's stand-in captain, in the absence of the injured Dermot Earley.

But Brennan's season is in limbo now after he ruptured his Achilles tendon and had to be stretchered off early on in Sunday's league semi-final defeat to Donegal.

He was detained overnight in Dublin's Mater Hospital and is set to miss a sizeable chunk, if not all of the Lilywhites' championship run as the injury requires surgery.

Crofton explained: "It's a huge blow to Killian because he had got himself into tremendous shape and was playing his best football for several seasons.

"In Dermot Earley's absence, he had assumed the team captaincy and was doing a very good job at that too."

The pressure will now be on the experienced Earley, who has been out of action since the league's second round due to a foot injury, to regain full fitness ahead of Kildare's Leinster SFC first round clash with Meath on May 20.