Kildare's Donnelly set for long lay-off

Ken Donnelly is facing a frustrating summer on the sidelines after it was confirmed that the Kildare sharpshooter has ruptured his cruciate knee ligament.

Donnelly unknowingly damaged his knee during a recent challenge match against Sligo in Ballykelly and suffered a further knock in training last week.

The Ellistown clubman will go under the knife in the coming weeks and has been ruled out of action for upwards of eight months.

It is an untimely blow for Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney whose charges are gearing up to face Louth in Saturday night's Leinster SFC quarter-final in Navan.

Wing back Mikey Conway is still being troubled by the cruciate knee ligament injury he suffered in last year's All-Ireland qualifier win over Wicklow. He recently underwent a second operation on his knee and remains hopeful of returning at some stage this summer.

Midfielder/wing forward Robert Kelly is also rehabbing a knee injury at present and is very unlikely to don the white jersey again this season.

A scan has revealed that Kelly's problem is more serious than first thought and the Straffan clubman is out of McGeeney's plans for the foreseeable future.