ARMAGH forward Tiernan Kelly is expected to miss the remainder of the inter-county season due to a blood-clot issue.
It is understood that the tenacious young half-forward became aware of a problem after a training session with his county and will now undergo tests to establish the root cause of the issue. A Hogan Cup winner with St Ronan's, Lurgan during his school days, Kelly was an Armagh Senior Championship with his club Clann Eireann late last year and went on to establish himself as a first-choice starter with his county throughout their Division One campaign. Strong and full of running, Kelly burst onto the scene in last summer’s Ulster Championship with goals against Antrim and Monaghan and was a fixture in Kieran McGeeney’s side all season. He went through the League with a string of impressive performances that produced scores in six games out of seven as Armagh consolidated their Division One status.
In the Championship, Kelly scored a fine point himself and did the spadework for another as Armagh briefly took the lead before Donegal took a grip on the game and ran out winners in Ballybofey.
Meanwhile, Caolan Mooney is the latest player to exit the Down panel.
Skipper of his county for the Division Two campaign, the Rostrevor native who plays his club football for RGU Downpatrick, is the fifth player to part ways with James McCartan’s squad since Down exited the Ulster Championship after a one-sided quarter-final against Monaghan.
Mooney was named captain at the start of the season but the talented wing-back/midfielder was unable to prevent Down from being relegated from Division Two after they took just one point, from a draw against Meath, from their seven games.
Form didn’t improve in the Championship. Despite a first half goal from Mooney and another early in the second half scored by Pat Havern, Down lost by 10 points and are currently preparing for the second tier Tailteann Cup competition.
Already this week Ryan McEvoy, Gerard Collins, Charlie Smyth and Corey Quinn have left the squad and now Mooney has followed suit.
