Jack Byrne is unlikely to feature in Shamrock Rovers’ Champions League clash on Tuesday against Icelandic side Breidablik.
The Ireland midfielder watched Friday night’s scoreless draw with Drogheda United from the stand after failing to recover in time from a knee ligament strain.
And boss Stephen Bradley admitted after the Boynesiders stalemate that he was a major doubt for Tuesday’s clash.
“He tried to train (on Thursday) but really struggled. I’d be surprised if he’s available,” said Bradley.
“He sprained his knee ligament against Derry at home. He’s done well. He’s done straight-line running but in terms of passing the ball and contact he wasn’t great.
“I can’t imagine he’ll be available for Tuesday. Lee (Grace), Gary (O’Neill) and Neil (Farrugia) should be but I don’t think Jack will be.”
Byrne could be fit for the return leg seven days later in Iceland, with Bradley revealing that he was being assessed “day by day.”
The Hoops boss added: “Like I said, he was due to start and just in training yesterday you could see he wasn’t right.
“He was trying to be fair to him, wanted to play but you could see he wasn’t right. We took the decision out of his hands.
“Hopefully now, we train tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, he gets three full days but we’ll just have to see day by day.”
Leon Pohls will keep his place in goal, despite the experienced Alan Mannus returning from a broken finger and taking his place on the bench against Drogheda.
“He (Mannus) had his first week of full training this week,” said Bradley.
“Alan will tell you himself that he needs a bit of time to get up to speed but it’s brilliant to have him back involved and you can see even in the shooting beforehand, trusting the hand again and the finger.
“Like I said before, Leon has been good. We know Alan’s quality but Alan is not ready to play on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, Bradley was pleased with certain aspects of Friday’s draw in Drogheda - Rovers’ sixth consecutive league meeting against the Boynesiders without a win.
“I think some of our play was really good,” he said.
“The building phase was really good, we got through their press really well and then, just the final bit, we came off a little bit in terms of sometimes the pass was too hard, too soft or we played it too early.
“Our final decision was a little bit off but the first two phases were really good.
“We controlled the game. Anything they had was sort of a long ball into the box or a second ball.
“We controlled transitions and on another night and the final third is better and we win the game.”
