DREW Wylie is out of the Ulster final according to Monaghan manager Malachy O’Rourke. The Ballybay Pearse Brothers full-back has damaged medial knee ligaments and, though he is in the early stages of recovery, O’Rourke said last night that his participation in the July 19 showpiece was “a no-no”.
Wylie’s season has been disrupted by injury and he suffered the latest setback in a club fixture a week after Monaghan beat Cavan in their first Championship game this season.
“Initially we thought it was a cruciate injury but on further investigation it wasn’t but it’s still a fairly severe knee injury – medial ligament damage,” said O’Rourke who will lead the Farneymen into a third successive Anglo-Celt decider.
“He’d be in the early stages of his recuperation, but it’s a lot better than we initially thought, we thought he was gone for the year.”
O’Rourke said Wylie – who had resigned himself to missing the rest of the year - was delighted with the reprieve.
“When he got the news first of all he was devastated, because a more committed fella than Drew Wylie you wouldn’t get,” he said.
“He was just after coming back from a horrible injury, a quad injury he picked up before the first round, and he had worked really hard to get back.
“He was playing a club game to get a bit of game-time under his belt when he hurt the knee. He initially felt that his year was over and he was frustrated and annoyed so it was a great boost for him but we’ll have to see as time goes on what he can actually do.
“I would imagine him playing in the final would be a complete no-no. There’s always hope but I would imagine there wouldn’t be a chance.”
The only other serious injury doubt for Monaghan is Wylie’s Ballybay clubmate Christopher McGuinness who was wearing a protective boot on his left foot last night.
“It’s more precautionary,” O’Rourke explained.
“He went over on the ankle last weekend. There are other niggly injuries there but you’d be hoping that most of them will clear up and they’ll all be ready for two weeks’ time.”
The hope for O’Rourke and the Monaghan faithful is that Wylie will come back quicker than expected like Conor McManus did last season.
McManus was given no chance of featuring in Monaghan’s Ulster opener against Tyrone after sustaining a knee injury playing for Clontibret but started the game and top-scored for his side.
“Conor right up to that game had done absolutely no training – he wasn’t able to do any training,” said the Monaghan manager.
“He was running in straight lines until maybe a week before the match. We felt there was no way that he could play. In the last week he started making twists and turns and kicking the ball and then we were thinking of not starting him.
“Then we thought that the psychological effect of not starting him would have been a big blow. We thought with his frees alone (he would be worth his place) and that’s probably the way it turned out – he wasn’t that mobile but he was still able to kick the frees over the bar.
“But Drew won’t be kicking any frees over the bar so it’ll be a different situation.”
