Derry City anxiously awaiting scan results to determine extent of Colm Whelan's injury

The 22 year-old Kilkenny man, who has made an instant impact on his return from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury with two goals in three substitute appearances for the Candy Stripes, went down clutching his right knee in the final stages of the 2-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers on Monday night.

As a tearful Whelan - who has played just over 90 minutes in a Derry shirt since signing his two-year deal last November - left Brandywell after the game wearing a strap on his knee, there were initial fears of a recurrence of his ACL injury which kept him out of action for 11 months.

The club wasn't in a position to confirm the injury sustained or the extent of the damage when contacted this morning and are awaiting official news from a specialist and results from further tests.

The Derry City medical team have been extremely cautious in terms of Whelan's rehabilitation and gently introduced him into full training having undergone and passed all the necessary tests in recent months.

The Ireland U21 international striker had made a fairytale start to his career on Foyleside with those two goals inside his first 42 minutes as a Derry player.

Indeed, the ex-UCD hitman scored the third goal in the 3-1 win over Cork at Turner's Cross just four minutes after coming off the bench with a stunning finish into the roof of the net.

Whelan then went on to score Derry's second on his Brandywell debut with a superb header while on the backfoot in the 2-0 win over St Pat's last Friday night, once again displaying his natural striker's instincts in front of goal.

Introduced as a substitute at the start of the second half against Rovers on Bank Holiday Monday, Whelan worryingly went down in front of the away support and looked in some pain as his right foot appeared to get stuck in the pitch and he seemingly jarred his knee.

Derry boss Ruaidhri Higgins will be hoping it's not the worst case scenario and the talented striker returns as quickly as possible, however, it's highly unlikely he'll be in the squad for Friday's trip to Drogheda.