Shamrock Rovers have put their goalkeeper hunt on hold as Alan Mannus could be back in action within weeks.
But striker Johnny Kenny is facing a spell on the sidelines and won’t feature for Ireland’s U21s in their upcoming friendlies against Gabon, Ukraine and Kuwait.
Mannus dislocated and broke a finger in the Hoops 2-0 win away to Derry City on May 1 and was in a race against time to play in Europe this summer.
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That saw Rovers open transfer talks with former Ireland goalkeeper Keiren Westwood but he won’t be available until next season due to personal reasons.
In the meantime, Stephen Bradley was busy assessing other keepers with a view to signing competition for No 2 Leon Pohls who has stepped into the first-team of late.
But Bradley today delivered a positive update on Mannus - who is retiring at the end of the season - and said: “Alan is another two weeks, hopefully.
“He gets his splint off on Monday. His wife is due a baby next week and the surgeon is due to take off the splint early next week.
“Then it's about how it takes to come back around in terms of the feel.”
Bradley continued: “We won't be taking anyone [a goalkeeper] in in the summer window.
“Alan could come back and it doesn't feel right or something else happens and he's ruled out, that changes everything again.
“In terms of us trying to sign Keiren a few weeks back, it changes that mentality in that we can look to the end of the season for that scenario.”
But striker Kenny - who is on loan from Celtic - could be out of action for up to three weeks due to a groin injury.
Bradley, who insists he won’t sign new players in the summer just for the sake of it, added: “Johnny has a groin issue and he's not going with the Ireland U21s.
“He saw the U21s doctor over the last few weeks, he had a niggle with a groin problem and we wanted to get him settled now before we head into a hectic run of games.
“He was with the doctor today and he will be out for two or three weeks, but nothing major.”
Former Rovers striker Aidomo Emakhu, now at Millwall, is set to replace Kenny in that Ireland U21 squad.
Rovers centre-back Dan Cleary has a knock and is also out of tomorrow’s league clash at home to bottom side UCD.
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