Meyler suffers injury blow

RISING star David Meyler is likely to miss out on a Republic of Ireland debut later this month after suffering a suspected cruciate ligament injury in Sunderland’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United yesterday.

The 20-year-old Cork youngster, who has just inked a five year contract at Sunderland, was carried off with a knee injury at the Stadium of Light with his manager, Steve Bruce admitting: “It doesn’t look good. We are fearing he has done his cruciate knee ligament so that’s a huge blow because the kid has had such an impact for us.”

Bruce described Meyler as “a breath of fresh air” at the club this season but is likely to be without the combative midfielder until later in the year if the initial diagnosis is confirmed.

Meyler was due to join up with his first Republic of Ireland squad at the end of the month before two internationals at the RDS against Paraguay and the Republic of Ireland.