DOWN have been dealt a blow ahead of the Tailteann Cup with the news that Barry O’Hagan’s knee injury will keep him out for the rest of the season.

O’Hagan came on during Down’s loss to Armagh in Saturday’s Ulster semi-final, a third appearance on his comeback from a knee ligament sustained in last year’s league.

Results have confirmed O’Hagan has torn his ACL and will be a loss as Down bid to bounce back from their championship exit.

Down were promoted back to Division Two and their gameplan almost saw them edge Armagh to book a spot in next month’s Ulster final and a place in the Sam Maguire Cup.

Instead, they are back in the Tailteann Cup and will now aim to go one better than losing last year’s final.

They will be a first seed – alongside Kildare, Fermanagh and Sligo – in the Wednesday’s draw.

It’s the third serious knee injury in recent days following on from Paudi McGrogan of Derry and Cavan’s Paddy Lynch who sustained during training last week.