Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has revealed that Darragh Lenihan suffered a knee injury on Friday, with the defender forced to withdraw from the Republic of Ireland squad for next week's international break.

The centre back did not feature for Rovers during their goalless draw with Cardiff City at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon, with summer signing Daniel Ayala instead handed his full debut for the club.

Speaking after the game about the reason for Lenihan's absence from the stalemate with the Bluebirds, Mowbray was quoted by the Lancashire Telegraph as saying: “Yesterday in training, right at the end of training he opened up his knee when blocking a shot.

“He had a scan which only showed something minor but it wasn’t worth taking a chance."

Lenihan - along with his Blackburn defensive partner Derrick Williams - had been set to link up with the Republic of Ireland squad for their upcoming games with Slovakia, Wales and Finland.

That however, will now not be happening for the 26-year-old, and discussing when Lenihan might be available to return for Rovers, Mowbray went on to add: “He won’t be going away with Republic of Ireland but will hopefully be back in a fortnight’s time, we’ll wait and see.”

That first game back after the international break will see Blackburn - who currently sit sixth in the Championship table with seven points from their opening four league games - host Nottingham Forest at Ewood Park on Saturday 17th October.

The Verdict

This will surely be a big relief for Rovers.

Lenihan once again looks set to be a key man for Tony Mowbray's side this season - captaining the club when fit - and they are not going to want to lose someone with his sort of presence for long.

Indeed, it has been noticeable that Rovers' dips in form in recent seasons have often coincided with Lenihan's absence through injury, so they would not have wanted to lose him long term after such an encouraging start to the season.

That being said, it was a promising Blackburn debut from Ayala in Lenihan's absence, despite the Spaniard's lack of game time, suggesting the club may be a stronger position to cope with any injuries or suspensions that hit the Irishman this time around than previous years, even though those are still issues they would surely rather avoid if possible.