Daithi Burke is awaiting results of a scan regarding a “serious enough injury”, according to club manager Francis Forde.
The Turloughmore man left the field before half time of yesterday’s Galway SHC final defeat to St Thomas’, but returned for the final five minutes with his calf heavily strapped.
His manager’s comments have cast doubts on Burke’s availability for the Galway hurlers as they bid nto restart their inter-county campaign on October 30 against Wexford in the Leinster championship semi-final.
Forde admitted that they were aware all week that Burke was carrying an injury which he picked up playing for Corofin in the Galway SFC semi-final defeat to Mountbellew-Moylough:
“It’s a fresh injury it really only came to light at the end of the football match,” says Forde.
“It was really late in the week before we realised the chances are that he wouldn’t be able to get 60 minutes in so we hadn’t the opportunity at that stage to get in a scan.
“He’ll have to get it scanned this week but it’s serious enough for Galway I would say.”
Speaking on OurGame’s Club Talk, Shane Stapleton and Michael Verney discussed the implications of a possible calf tear for the Galway team and for Burke himself:
“It’s a very slow one and a very frustrating one,” says Verney. “If it’s a tear it is going to take a good bit of time and then you’re thinking he probably put his Galway season in jeopardy by coming back on, or even playing in the first place but it shows you how much he wanted to play but it’s a big doubt now for Shane O’Neill.”
O’Neill, the Galway senior hurling manager, was said to have been eyeing up full back as a possible position for the versatile Burke, but Stapleton believes that won’t be possible if he is not fully fit.
“If Daithi Burke is 50/50 and they do chance him, full back is the last place you want to be if you have an injury issue somewhere in your legs because of the constant twisting and turning and players testing you out.
“If I was Wexford I’d be thinking, let’s put someone pacy whether it’s Cathal Dunbar, David Dunne or whoever it is just to test out the injury.”
Although Burke’s injury is concerning, Verney points to Burke’s ability to recover from injury in the past as a source of hope for Galway supporters:
“His powers of recovery in the past have been absolutely phenomenal.
“Remember he played the drawn game against Clare when by all accounts he had no right to play and he was playing on one leg with an ankle injury, some lads have unbelievable powers of recovery and Daithi Burke has obviously shown this in the past.”
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