Newtonmore wing-back Darrin Fowler hopes to be released from hospital later this week after surgery for a fractured skull.
The 25-year-old player sustained a head injury in the last seconds of the club’s Mowi Premiership fixture against Kinlochshiel at Balmacara on Saturday.
He felt unwell on the homeward journey and a team-mate, who had been driving, stopped the car and summoned an ambulance, which took Fowler to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.
Darrin was later transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where an operation was performed to relieve pressure on the brain.
Newtonmore club president and co-manager Norman MacArthur said yesterday: “We’ve heard from his family that Darrin is now sitting up in bed and feeling as well as can be expected.
“That’s quite a relief and relatives now hope he can be allowed home by the weekend.
“Darrin got a knock on the back of the head in the last tackle of the game. It was a complete accident and afterwards we didn’t realise how serious it would turn out to be.
“As he set off in the car home on Saturday evening, he intended to stop in Inverness to have it checked out — but on the journey from Wester Ross the driver became alarmed and, quite rightly, called an ambulance.”
MacArthur added: “By Sunday, he was on the operating table in Aberdeen, 180 miles away from where he’d been injured.
“It all came as quite a shock to Darrin’s team mates and everyone is extremely pleased that the surgery has been successful and the lad is sitting up.
“Shinty very much takes second place against the backdrop of a serious injury and the first priority is to get the lad home to his family and friends and allow him to make a full recovery.”
Kinlochshiel have posted a message on social media expressing best wishes to Darrin on a speedy recovery.
Fowler, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall, won a MacTavish Cup winners medal with The Eilean club in 2016 and collected North First Division championships in 2016, 2017, and 2019.
