Limerick All-Ireland winner Richie McCarthy suffers cruciate ligament blow in club game

It's every GAA player's worst nightmare.

It's a game of swings and roundabouts. Less than three weeks on from Limerick's historic first All-Ireland win since 1973, victorious defender Richie McCarthy tore his cruciate in a club game. The Blackrock full back had been a mainstay of the Limerick team for years. A short, stocky, plucky defender, McCarthy minded the Limerick house with distinction for years. Always clever on the ball, the Treaty number three is the type of player you'd always trust coming out with a ball. Rarely would he selfishly bomb it away to safety, you'd find him laying it off for his corner and wing backs to take the glory of a clearance more often. The emergence of Mike Casey to Limerick's second choice number three this year but he still had a big impact on their year, none-more-so than when he replaced the injured Na Piarsaigh man in the final and kept up Limerick's nullification of Galway's human cherry-picker Johnny Glynn. Unfortunately for the 30-year-old, he went over on his knee playing for his club Blackrock in the Limerick intermediate championship against Pallasgreen last Friday. The Limerick management issued a statement on the injury this morning.

“Following a scan this week we can confirm that Richie has suffered an ACL knee injury playing with his club Blackrock last weekend which will require surgery in the coming weeks. “The management team, backroom team and entire panel of players wish Richie the very best in his recovery and ensure him of our fullest support in the months ahead. We have every faith in his ability to work through this challenge and look forward to seeing him back on the pitch with Limerick and Blackrock in 2019.

The county's vice-captain Paul Browne suffered the same injury at the start of the year, as did Seamus Hickey and Kevin Downes in recent times.