Patrick McEleney injury a ‘tricky one’ says Derry City boss

Derry City captain Patrick McEleney at the club’s Fans Forum held in the City Hotel on Saturday afternoon. Photograph: George Sweeney

The Shantallow man's time on the pitch has been limited this season due to several injury setbacks including a groin strain and a most recent calf problem.

McEleney went to a clinic in Santry, Dublin last week for a scan on the injury described by Higgins as an uncommon one, but a date for his return to action remains unclear.

Higgins has been unable to field his strongest team this season after 12 games - a familiar predicament since taking the Brandywell hotseat - and goes to Galway with fitness doubts over Sadou Diallo, Cameron Dummigan, Michael Duffy, McEleney and Colm Whelan who is nearing a return after his recovery from a double ACL blow.

When quizzed on McEleney's fitness the Brandywell boss said no one 'hurts' more than the midfield maestro when he's not available given his passion for his hometown club but assured the player is doing everything possible to get back on the pitch.

“It's a tricky one," he began. "It's not a common injury at all, but he's doing all that he can. Nobody hurts more than him when he's not available to the team.

"He loves his club. He puts the team first and he's really, really selfless and it's not often that you get a player with that talent who is so team-orientated. He's all about the team. That's why he's the captain.

"And as I said, no one hurts more than him when he's not available, but I can assure you that any time he picks something up, that he does everything in his power to get back at the quickest possible time. And this will be the same again. But timeframes, I'm not too sure at the minute.”

Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley recently lamented his squad's 70% availability - the worst it's been for the past six years! Higgins is reluctant to bemoan his injury issues and instead wants full focus on those available for the trip to Galway.

"We've been down that road. We've spoken about it. I don't want to speak about it anymore. We want to focus on what we can control. Listen, every manager wants their full quota, but we've shown that we can compete and we can win matches and hopefully we can continue to do that."