Conor Gillespie's season has been brought to a premature end after the midfielder tore a cruciate ligament at Meath training yesterday.

The Summerhill player missed the league as he recovered from a fractured shin but had made steady progress in the last two months.

Mick O'Dowd confirmed the news this morning and Gillespie joins Eamon Wallace on the sidelines, with the Ratoath player also having suffered the same injury in March.

With Gillespie's regular midfield partner Brian Meade absent during Meath's Allianz FL campaign, O'Dowd turned to a midfield combination of Shane O'Rourke and Bryan Menton.

There is also injury concerns over Menton's availability for Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final against Carlow while Eoghan Harrington is out with a jaw injury.

Meade has recently returned the county set-up having ruptured his cruciate ligament last Autumn and his involvement in the championship match day panel is now likely to brought forward given the Gillespie set-back.

The midfielder's injury is also a major blow to Summerhill's hopes of defending the Keegan Cup. Tweet

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