O’Flynn injury is a big blow for Institute’s championship hopes

Institute’s Championship One title hopes were dealt a massive blow last weekend.
Stephen O'Flynn.Stephen O'Flynn.
Stephen O'Flynn.

Striker Stephen O’Flynn looks set to be missing for a number of weeks after he picked up a groin injury, during Saturday’s 1-0 win at fellow title contenders Bangor.

The Cork man – who fired home his ninth goal in five games at Clandeboye Park – has been in sparkling form both on and off the pitch, and losing his experience during the run-in is a major blow for Paul Kee’s side.

“He looks to have pulled his groin, and it looks a bad one,” stated Kee.

“He has been playing with confidence, he’s scored nine goals in five games and his goals is one of the reasons why we are on this run.

“He scored another fantastic opportunist goal at Bangor – he nipped in, got it off the keeper and then finished it well.”

If the former Derry City front man is missing for any length of time, then fellow centre-forward Darren McFadden looks set to be his replacement.

“O’Flynn is a big loss because (Darren) McFadden is a player who is still learning the game,” added the ‘Stute gaffer.

“While McFadden has scored eight goals, O’Flynn has nine goals now in only five games, but we are just having to get on with it.

“Darren is obviously going to be looked at as a replacement, but he and the younger players are going to have to really step up to the mark.

“Not only ability wise, which we know they have, but in terms of their application, training application and more their mentality.

“Darren wasn’t in the squad at Bangor, because he got a wee bit complacent last week, which is disappointing.”

Kee also admitted that he wants his players to remain focused on the task in hand – starting with Lisburn Distillery, at Drumahoe, this Saturday (KO 3pm).

“We have momentum now and we can’t afford any slackers in the squad, we need everyone in the squad to remain totally focused for every game,” he added.

“We can’t get complacent, and to be honest, you can never get complacent in the Championship, because there is always someone around the corner to kick you and bring you down to earth.

“The Championship is an uncompromising league, and you have to respect every team you play, we’ll be telling the players this week at training that there’s no point going to Bangor and not putting in the same type of performance against Distillery.

“We’ll be taking each game as it comes and that’s the most important thing.”

McFadden and Declan McKeever are likely to be back in the squad this weekend, however, joining O’Flynn on the treatment table is left-back Colm McLaughlin, who picked up a hamstring injury at Bangor.

“We do have a big squad, but it’s still a case of all hands on deck at this time of the season,” he added.

“While we have a big squad, we need to avoid picking up injuries and suspensions and we picked up a few bookings on Saturday.

“Robbie Hume will come into contention as well – in fairness to him, he trained really well last week, and he was unfortunate not to be involved in the Bangor game.”