Northern Ireland boss issues Dan Ballard injury return timeframe hope as Sunderland await scan results
Sunderland await clarity on Dan Ballard’s hamstring injury after he returned from Northern Ireland duty
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill hopes Dan Ballard will be available again by the November international window as Sunderland wait to learn the full extent of his latest injury.
Ballard suffered a suspected hamstring problem in added time of Northern Ireland’s 1-0 win over Georgia on Friday night and left the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena on crutches. The 27-year-old has since returned to Sunderland, where the club’s medical staff are due to assess him. The full extent of the injury is not yet known, and any return date will depend on the results of those checks.
Ballard has already been ruled out of Northern Ireland’s remaining fixtures in the current international window, including Monday night’s game against Hungary, the trip to Ukraine and the return meeting with Georgia. O’Neill made clear that his reference to November was a hope rather than a confirmed recovery timeline.
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“He needs to be assessed by his club’s medical staff, and we want him fit as soon as possible for Sunderland and obviously for ourselves,” O’Neill said. “People recognise how big a presence he is in the Premier League for Sunderland, but naturally he’s a huge presence for us here as well. We can only wish him the speediest of recovery possible, and hopefully we’ll see him in November.”
Sunderland will therefore wait for Ballard’s scan results before establishing how long he is likely to be sidelined. The Northern Ireland boss’ comments offer some encouragement that the injury may not necessarily prove long-term, but at this stage there has been no firm indication of when Ballard will return.