JAMES Morgan is the latest casualty in Armagh’s injury list and is set to miss the entire Orchard campaign this season.
It is a hammer blow to Armagh’s ambitions this season as Morgan’s return from club duty with Crossmaglen was meant to bring much-needed experience to an unfamiliar defence.
And manager Kieran McGeeney wasn’t sugar-coating the bitter disappointment to lose a player of Morgan’s calibre.
“It is a pity that we lost James, which is going to be harsh on us,” said McGeeney.
“His wrist is just too bad to continue, so he is going to need an operation on it.
“He is a big loss to us.
“He has his own health and his own career to look after and we would pride ourselves on that [player welfare]. He is going to need an operation, which is a pity because he is a quality player but he is just too sore to continue playing on it.”
Morgan is likely to miss the start of Crossmaglen’s defence of their county championship under new manager Gareth O’Neill, who replaced Oisin McConville and John McEntee during the week, but despite Morgan’s injury, McGeeney sees the Crossmaglen tenacious defender as having a bright future with the Orchard county.
“He just hurt it last year and he tried to get through the whole year with Cross and it has just gotten very sore,” McGeeney said.
“He has a future, he is only 24 years old and the way he plays, he doesn’t know what playing at 90 per cent is.
“He will be a huge loss to us because he is a great fella to have around the team as well. Despite his seriousness on the pitch, he is one of the jokers on the team.”
Along with Morgan, captain Ciaran McKeever has been ruled out of seeing any action in tomorrow’s crunch tie at Breffni Park, while long-term absentee Kevin Dyas will also sit this game out.
Ethan Rafferty and Mickey Murray may play some part, but Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney may decide not to risk the duo with games against Galway, Tyrone and Derry still to come.
