Down's championship hopes have been dealt a massive blow with the news that Benny Coulter suffered a suspected broken ankle on Monday night.

The vastly experienced full forward turned awkwardly while playing for his club Mayobridge against Bryansford in a league game, and Mourne County manager James McCartan was fearing the worst at the launch of the Ulster SFC in Belfast's Titanic Suite last night.

"It doesn't sound good, so there is no point in saying otherwise. He's potentially got a broken ankle, so we are planning without him," he said.

"It's a huge blow for him. We had been trying to play it very carefully with Benny and hold him back when he wanted to play and only introduce him as a substitute, hoping that we would get the best out of him in the summer.

"You feel for him because he has been toiling for many a year to try and get his hands on an Ulster championship and hasn't managed to do so," he added.

McCartan also fears that Dan Gordon will miss the Ulster SFC opener against Fermanagh in Enniskillen on June 3 with the ankle injury he picked up against Laois in the final round of the Allianz Football League.

"If there was two men you wouldn't want to be without, it's those two," he said.

"Dan has the famous metatarsal injury, which is notoriously hard to cure. It's looking like we could be without him for the Fermanagh match too. It's a huge blow to us to lose Benny and Dan but some other members of the panel are going to have to step up and fill big shoes." Tweet

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