Rooney's GAA season could be over

Laois defender Darren Rooney's season hangs in the balance after he sustained cruciate ligament damage during the Leinster SFC final defeat to Dublin.

Rooney is going to get a second opinion from surgeon Ray Moran in the coming days, after initial scans highlighted the damage.

He will definitely miss Laois' All-Ireland third round qualifier against Derry on Saturday night.

Chris Conway (hamstring), Noel Garvan (knee) and Barry Brennan (thigh) are also set to miss the Derry game while Brian 'Beano' McDonald's participation is in some doubt after he received a kick from a horse.

'Beano' works with his uncle Jim McDonald, who breeds thoroughbreds, on the Athy/Laois border. He is currently nursing a bruised leg but is optimistic of being fit for the weekend.

Laois manager Liam Kearns sacked the team's fitness trainer Eddie Jackman in the aftermath of the Leinster final and his lengthy injury list will do little to ease the pressure on his shoulders.

Kearns is coming under mounting pressure from within Laois after the side's poor showing in the Leinster final. A club delegate, Matthew Leonard from Ballylinan, launched a strongly-worded attack on the Laois team this week for what he termed their "ludicrous and crazy" display at Croke Park.

"They were supposed to have some trick up their sleeve for the Dublin game but I didn't see any tricks up at Croke Park," Leonard said.

"They were scratching themselves for about three quarters of the game. We have gone backwards from what I can see and some of the lads wouldn't get on as a Maor Uisce on other teams. We are not making progress and it is about time we stood up and be counted.

"A lot of money has been spent in the county. We need bigger players, some with muscles because there are no muscles on some of them. They have to stop praising themselves and start playing properly."

Laois County Board chairman Dick Miller responded by giving Kearns and his players a vote of confidence.

"I don't agree with you at all," he replied. "I am very proud of the players and the management is as good as any in the country.

"I have every confidence in the management, the team and I think that they can achieve great things. We have to take our beating and just get on with it."

The under-fire Kearns is adamant that that midlanders have made progress this season and have the ability to make the last-eight of the All-Ireland championship.

"We reached the O'Byrne Cup final and took Dublin to extra-time, we remained in Division One of the National League, something Dublin or Cork couldn't manage to do, and we came within two kicks of Dublin in the Leinster final," he told the Laois Nationalist.

"Everybody knows that we are the underdogs going into Saturday's qualifier. Derry are after taking out both Armagh and Mayo in their last two games and we are coming into the game after a Leinster final defeat.

"But if we play up to scratch then we will certainly have a chance of booking our place in the All-Ireland quarter-final," Kearns added.