Warning: Contains graphic content
AN Irish footballer who shared a gruesome picture of his hand injury has confirmed that he has now lost his finger and subsequently retired from the game.
Finn Harps legend Kevin McHugh sustained the bizarre training ground injury after hopping a fence and getting his wedding ring caught earlier this month.
As he drove himself to hospital he still found time to send out a photo to his social media followers, receiving over 1,000 re-tweets on Twitter for this gruesome shot.
Think that's my season over... pic.twitter.com/P6N6RIKbsn
— Kevin McHugh #10 (@KevinMcHugh10) October 5, 2016
It had been thought that surgeons would be able to salvage the severed finger but, unfortunately for McHugh, that has not been the case.
"I was quite hopeful that they would be able to re-attach the finger,” McHugh said in an interview with Newstalk.
“I thought there would be no problem re-attaching it, but the bit of bone you would see in the picture I tweeted, that actually came up from my knuckle.
“So, obviously, the whole finger was gone and there's a lot of tendons, nerves and things severed by the ring.
"So they explained to me there was nothing they could do for me. That was hard to take.
Op over. Unfortunately finger to badly damaged to repair properly. Thanks for all ur messages, cant reply to all. Esp with 1 hand! #Moveon pic.twitter.com/mpCPW7INTi
— Kevin McHugh #10 (@KevinMcHugh10) October 6, 2016
"That was probably the biggest disappointment, never mind the pain of it. Just the biggest disappointment was knowing that you were going to be left with no finger."
At 36, the veteran forward – who has also played for Derry City and Linfield in between two spells at Finn Harps – has felt the need to call time on his career as a result of the injury.
