CHERRIES star Shaun Maher has been rocked by the news that he will be out for the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Maher had his worst fears confirmed when he was given the grim verdict following a consultation with leading knee specialist Dai Rees in Oswestry yesterday.

And the 24-year-old immediately went under the surgeon's knife to have his left knee reconstructed at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.

Maher was well on the road to recovery after sustaining cartilage damage and a micro-fracture during Cherries' 2-2 draw at Darlington at the end of September.

But the Irishman's hopes of a festive comeback were cruelly shattered when he suffered a recurrence of the injury in training last week.

Maher was initially told he had a problem with his cruciate ligament following an exploratory operation to repair cartilage damage inside his knee in October.

Cherries physio Jim Marshall said last night: "Shaun had two options; he could either have the operation immediately or we could try to rehab his knee because there was a chance he could come back without one.

"He was working really hard, but unfortunately twisted it in training which showed it wasn't stable enough for him to play on so the only option then was for him to have the operation.

"We sent him to see the specialist and he felt it would be appropriate to do the operation straight away. It's the same operation as Alan Connell had and if Shaun is back before the end of the season, it would be a bonus.

"It was surmised that Shaun may have done a little bit of damage to his knee before which is why it appeared as stable as it did on examination because normally when the cruciate goes, the knee blows up a lot.

"Shaun's wasn't like that and the only time the surgeon has seen previous injuries like this is when there has been damage done prior to the incident which has finished it off.

"Over time, the muscles around the knee have compensated and that's why it has appeared to be quite stable. That's the reason we had the additional option of trying to rehab him to see whether he could get the strength back.

"Shaun's strength base is quite considerable due to the work he's been doing over the past couple of months and in that respect, he is probably already ahead of Alan.

"This was always one of the fall-backs with letting him rehab it because by the time we got to twisting and turning, which could have caused the problems, we knew we wouldn't be losing a great deal of time if anything went wrong.

"It's a big blow for Shaun and a big blow for the squad, but at the end of the day, we have to look after his welfare and it's only right we get his knee sorted out once and for all."

Maher will spend two nights in hospital and a further two nights in a hotel in Shrewsbury before returning home with the Cherries squad following Saturday's match at Gay Meadow.