Sheehan to miss opening NFL games

Kerry captain Bryan Sheehan is set to miss the first two rounds of the Allianz National Football League due to an injury picked up in Sunday’s McGrath Cup victory over Waterford.

The St Mary’s clubman is set to miss four to six weeks with torn ankle ligaments and is now likely to miss the league games against rivals Cork and Dublin.

But it could be worse for the newly installed Kingdom skipper who initially thought that he had broken a bone when he sustained the injury.

Speaking in Tuesday’s Irish Examiner, Sheehan said: ‘When I went over on it, I heard the snap and Aidan O’Mahony heard it as well. I feared the worst straight way and I was in a lot of pain.

‘I just went up for a kick out with a Waterford fella and the two of us fell backwards. I landed first and he came down on top of my ankle and over my knee.

‘But after a few minutes the pain eased away and I was able to get up. The doctors and physios looked at it after the game, and they were fairly confident there was no break.’

He added: ‘I was able to put some weight on it but you have to get the x-ray to be sure. It was a relief to find out nothing was broken.

‘I’ve had a few problems with the left ankle before, chipping a bone in it in 2004 and doing the ligaments a few times as well. It’s a weak ankle, I had it strapped on Sunday but the body weight injured it again.’