Cian Out For 3 Months

Cian in action against Crawley in January

Rovers were dealt a massive blow last night when the extent of loanee Cian Bolger's injury became clear.

There were fears on Saturday when the injury first occurred because Cian appeared to land awkwardly on his knee, but the club's doctor assured manager Mark McGhee that it wasn't as serious as they had previously believed it to be. However, following a scan yesterday morning, Cian was told he has damaged his Posterior Cruciate Ligament and is likely to be out of action for 3 months - a cruel blow to a player who has only made 2 appearances this season following his late loan signing in August.

McGhee was clearly gutted to lose the young Irishman, who has shown outstanding commitment to the club in all three of his loan spells with us, but confirmed he would return to Leicester to undergo his rehab. The hope is that he will return to playing action before Christmas in time to make further appearances before his loan expires in January. There was speculation at the time of his latest signing that the deal would be extended or even made permanent should he continue to impress over the next few months. He put in an outstanding display against Aldershot and, their first goal aside, he was probably man of the match.

He has taken to Twitter to voice his disappointment but team-mates such as Ollie Clarke have reassured him that everyone at the club hopes he returns bigger and better than ever before. With his attitude, I have no doubt he will come back before Christmas... I just hope this doesn't damage his confidence too much.

McGhee told the press yesterday that we may not see the best of summer signing Garry Kenneth until around Christmas time, which lead to a mass panic on Rovers forums that he wouldn't be fit enough to play until the festive season. Fortunately they were incorrect (epitomising the hysterical mindset of a lot of our fans at the moment) and his manager is targeting a return in a few weeks time. There are still worries that Garry won't be in peak condition upon his first few appearances but there are no doubts his fitness will improve with competitive action. In fact, in preparation for his potential debut in a few games time, McGhee is asking Garry to park at the Mem and run to the training ground.

I've said on many an occasion that I feel he'll prove to be an outstanding signing for us so I hope Gasheads give him time to settle in when he does get his chance. I can see him being a future captain and stalwart in what is hopefully a few years of progression both on and off the pitch. McGhee has reiterated his desire to return Kenneth to international standard (maybe somewhat ambitiously) and if he can get anywhere near that level we'll have a top player on our hands. I'm sure we'll see him line up alongside Tom Parkes but for the time being he'll have to make do with watching TP partner Adam Virgo in the middle.

Best of luck to Cian in his rehabilitation and to Garry in his continued progress, hopefully it won't be too long before we see either of you in the blue and white quarters.