Before you look at this, don’t look at this.
Sunday League football isn’t for the faint-hearted.
If that stance ever needed affirming, it was reaffirmed viciously this weekend in the Kilkenny Premier Division when, after 20 seconds and one tackle, a midfielder had to come off, go to hospital, get 11 stitches in his knee and now wait for the swelling to go down to check for ligament damage.
Cathal Byrne looks like he was literally in the wars.
The Callan footballer had to be substituted in the first minute of his side’s 1-1 draw with Evergreen on Sunday so he could be rushed in an ambulance for treatment.
In an accidental foul caused in a 50-50 challenge, Byrne was caught by the opposition player’s studs and the results are a gaping hole where his skin used to be and a pool of blood on the hospital table.
Remarkably, the x-rays showed no chip or break to the bone but Byrne did go home with 11 stitches which will stay there for two weeks.
The initial consensus is that he’ll be out for at least a month – doing nothing that is – but they’ll have to check for ligament or tendon damage whenever his knee restores itself to its normal size.
Sure it’s only a cut.
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