6 March 2008 :: by
Autolycus
Aston Villa's young Republic of Ireland international right-back Stephen O'Halloran has confirmed that he has suffered cruciate ligament damage and faces surgery to correct the injury. The 20 year-old suffered the injury during the warm-up on his loan debut for Leeds United against Swindon Town at the County Ground last Saturday.
O'Halloran has returned to Villa treatment and brought a premature end to a potentially exciting signing.
O'Halloran told BBC WM, "We were just warming up and 20 minutes in I was closing someone down and checked to the right and something popped. I wasn't expecting it to be cruciate ligaments. Even the physio didn't think it would be that bad. We thought it might be hamstring or something at the back of the knee."
O'Halloran is currently awaiting the results of a second scan on his knee to discover how long he will be out of the game. Leeds fans join Villa fans in wishing the youngster a speedy recover from what used to be a career-ending injury just twenty years ago.
