This is the very last thing Northern Ireland fans wanted.
Michael O’Neill’s side are rank outsiders for Euro 2016 and the injury news from their training camp, this morning, bodes horribly.
Leading scorer Kyle Lafferty, who missed last weekend’s draw with Slovakia, had a re-occurrence of a groin injury and fell in a heap after stretching for a ball. He was attended to by medical staff before limping out of his team’s session.
O’Neill later told reporters that Lafferty’s injury is ‘not serious’ but it remains to be seen if he will feature in his side’s opener on Sunday.
BREAKING NEWS: Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty limps out of training session. #SSNHQ pic.twitter.com/HQe5jJQH7U
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 7, 2016
Lafferty was instrumental to Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaign, scoring seven goals to propel his country into the championships.
He has 17 goals in 50 national appearances so his qualifiers scoring streak – seven in seven games – was pretty remarkable. He also found the net in the 3-0 victory over Belarus on May 27.
Lafferty only played one game for Norwich City last season before he was loaned out to Birmingham City. He scored one goal in six Sky Bet Championship appearances with City.
O’Neill may now turn to Wigan striker Will Grigg to lead the line for his side at Euro 2016.
WATCH: Will Grigg has scored his first international goal, and you know what that means https://t.co/AFJM3vdqO7
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 27, 2016
Grigg has eight caps for Northern Ireland and scored his first goal against Belarus in that May 27 game.
https://twitter.com/laurinaaa_/status/740120355122126848
For anyone who got the North in their office sweepstakes, see if you can get a do-over.
