Cork City confirm ACL injury for Premier League-linked star Cathal O'Sullivan
It is the second ACL injury that O'Sullivan has suffered in three years, and it will rule him out for the rest of the season with City already looking dead and buried at the bottom of the League of Ireland Premier Division.
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A standout talent at Turners Cross for the past couple of years, Republic of Ireland U21 international O'Sullivan has been linked with moves to Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Brentford. At 18, he is now old enough to join a Premier League club but his latest injury will dictate that such ambitions are put on hold.
'We are all absolutely gutted for Cathal to have suffered this injury,' said Cork City manager Ger Nash.
'As everybody knows, he is a really talented player with a very promising future, so this is a big setback for him, but we will all rally around him and support him.
'I have no doubt that he will come back stronger from this, and we will all support him in doing so.'
O'Sullivan's availability for Cork City beyond August was always in doubt: he would have commanded a greater fee while under contract in this summer than the €300,000 compensation that the club would be paid were he to move overseas in the winter, and so it would have made business sense for the club to accept an offer for the Glanmire man before the end of the current English transfer window.
But a summer move is now off the cards and O'Sullivan will play no further role in what has been a lamentable season for City, with the club 11 points adrift of Sligo Rovers at the foot of the table and almost inevitably facing a second relegation in three years.
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