KEITH BUCKLEY is on course to see action before the end of the season according to Bohemians boss Alan Reynolds.
Bohemians club captain Buckley, 32, has been out of action for the past 11 months with an ACL tear suffered just three weeks before last season’s FAI Cup final.
But he was spotted in Tallaght last night ahead of Bohs 1-0 defeat by Shamrock Rovers doing some pre-match running and Reynolds revealed he is close to returning to full training.
And, with the Gypsies through to the last four of this year’s FAI Cup, the midfielder is targeting a return ahead of this year’s November 10 showpiece if Bohs are in it.
Boss Reynolds said: “Keith is back running but he hasn’t joined in training with us yet, when he comes in training he has to try and play Under-20s games and that.
“His aim is to be back for he’d say the final, he still has a bit to do. He still has to hit his marks and see the specialist but he has come along well.
“We are hoping in the next two weeks he might be able to join in training with us, which would be great for everyone. He wants to play before the season is over.”
But while Bucko’s return would be a boost, Reynolds revealed that highly-rated midfielder James McManus is out for the rest of the season with a foot problem.
The 19-year-old returned from two months out 12 days ago and faced UCD in the FAI Cup quarterfinal but was seen a protective boot in Tallaght last night.
And Reynolds confirmed that he suffered a training ground injury which will keep him out for the remainder of this campaign.
He added: “It looks a tasty one. He has broken something, something not great. It’s a hard one for him, he was devastated, his recovery starts now, but he’s had an awful season (with injuries).
“It happened in training, a freak accident.”
Meanwhile, Reynolds bemoaned Bohs lost to Shamrock Rovers believing that a key decision went against them in the build-up to Graham Burke’s late winning goal.
Burke drilled home a long range winner, though Reynolds and his coaching staff believe that there was a foul on Paddy Kirk in the build-up.
He said: “I felt for their goal it was a free kick, a poor decision. Rovers didn’t get it on Friday (when they had a penalty wrongly awarded against them), we didn’t get it on Monday night.
“I’m disappointed but the players gave everything, they were out on their feet, playing against a good team, we dust ourselves down.
“The size of the pitch in Tallaght, it can be hard to get after teams the way we want to, and we took playing Friday into account, I wasn’t sure if the same players could play with the same energy so we changed our way.
“And it worked to a degree, they were getting frustrated which is a good sign from us but I’d like us to have more possession.
“I felt we were going to come under pressure against them, that we’d get chances on the break and we’d have to be clinical and I didn’t think we were.”
HE’S A KEEPER
Meanwhile, Reynolds also explained the role of new goalkeeping coach Seán Fogarty who has taken on responsibility for defensive set-pieces as well.
The Ireland Under-16 goalkeeping coach could be seen last night standing in the technical area – with Reynolds often sitting down – anytime Shamrock Rovers had an attacking set-piece.
Bohs are not the only team to do it; Scotland’s Steve Clarke employs Austin McPhee to run set-pieces.
And ‘Rennie’ revealed he got the idea from his time with the Ireland Under-21s where goalkeeping coach Rene Gilmartin took charge of some set-pieces.
He said: “The Ireland Under-21s is where I learned it from, Rene Gilmartin, the goalkeeping coach, used to take them.
“When I spoke to Sean about coming in (last April) I said what about this, he said why not. That’s his forte and he likes it.
“I’d say other clubs do it. We leave it to him, it might look like a bit of chaos but we are organised.”
