Shamrock Rovers full-back Trevor Clarke has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign with knee ligament damage.
The 20-year-old suffered the injury in last Friday night's 2-1 loss to Waterford at the RSC, taking a heavy knock in a 50-50 after a half an hour.
The gaffer gives an update on @trevor_clarke20 injury at today's media event for the Sligo game on Friday. Also comment from @Greggyb6 #SRFCTV pic.twitter.com/HbnbLKXgcW
— Shamrock Rovers F.C. 🇮🇪 (@ShamrockRovers) March 29, 2018
He will now go under the knife and begin rehab straight away, but boss Stephen Bradley admitted the Dubliner is facing a long road to recovery.
"He'll be out for the season," said Bradley.
"We're just looking now to get the operation as quick as possible and get him back as quick as possible.
"It's going to be a long one for Trevor. He'll be fine. He's mentally really tough. He knows what he has to do to get back. Trevor is a top player. Any team in the country would miss Trevor and we're no different."
Clarke's energy and ability on the left has turned many heads, with speculation suitors across the water were closely monitoring his progress.
Bradley is at least well stocked with replacements - Sean Kavanagh, Luke Byrne and Ally Gilchrist are all solid options.
Gilchrist will miss tomorrow night's Tallaght Stadium clash with Sligo however having seen red in the loss at the RSC.
