CORK CITY HAVE been dealt a huge blow with confirmation that striker Ruairí Keating ruptured his Achilles tendon in the final minutes of Friday’s 2-1 defeat to Derry City at The Brandywell.

Keating received his scan results on Tuesday and is highly unlikely to play again this season, with City manager Tim Clancy describing a potential recovery time from surgery of six to nine months as being “very, very hopeful”.

Keating, 29, is his side’s top scorer with three goals in the opening seven games of the new season, while newly promoted Cork City are also without fellow star striker Seáni Maguire until at least the end of the month as they enter a period of five games in 15 days beginning with the visit of St Patrick’s Athletic to Turner’s Cross this Friday.

Dangerous winger Malik Dijksteel and influential midfield veteran Greg Bolger are also currently sidelined, with City currently second from bottom having blown 12 points from winning positions so far during this campaign.

“A really bad one for us,” Cork City boss Tim Clancy said of Keating’s injury. “It’s not easy. You write your whole season off, I suppose, before the scan results come in. The injury has happened now so the next thing is to try and get ‘Keats’ the surgery as quick as we can, which I think is a pretty quick turnaround from the diagnosis yesterday (Tuesday) to the operating table.

“I’ve done that injury myself,” Clancy added. “It’s the furthest part of the body away from the heart which pumps blood that actually repairs fibres and that, so it’s probably the worst part of the body to damage because the healing process takes that little bit longer.

“It’s a serious injury so it’s important that we get the right treatments for Keats and start that slow recovery back.”