Donegal defender Caolan Ward was on crutches at Breffni Park on Sunday and he will be sidelined for a number of months.
Ward has been a regular in the Donegal panel since 2017 and made 13 appearances last season.
He hasn’t played so far this yet, and had a brace on his leg on Sunday.
The St Eunan’s defender has a serious hamstring injury which is similar to the issues that Patrick McBrearty and Michael Langan had last season.
McBrearty had surgery late last February and still made it back for the All-Ireland Series.
Ward will be hoping that his rehab goes smoothly and he can get back in a Donegal shirt before the season is out.
“He (Ward) had surgery last Saturday (January 27). He had a hamstring tendon (injury) so that’s going to be a medium to long term one for us,” said county manager, Jim McGuinness.
“It will probably be ten or twelve or fourteen weeks. It’s a serious enough injury that he got so he is in the same boat as Michael Langan was in.
“It was a non-contact injury in training when he was kicking the ball. His foot was in an unusual position trying to dink a ball over a guy’s head and he felt something in it.
“An injury like that always makes you stop in your tracks and makes you think about the game and how can it happen almost.
“But the answer to that is that they are very finely tuned now.
“They are in the gym two or three nights a week and they are training two or three nights a week.
“That elite level is running through the GAA at the minute and these type of injuries happen.”
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