O'Halloran ruled out for season

O'Halloran is treated before being taken off against Sheffield United

Swansea City's on-loan defender Stephen O'Halloran has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The Irishman was taken off on a stretcher in Swansea's 1-1 draw with Sheffield United on Saturday.

And scans show that O'Halloran has ruptured his cruciate knee ligaments for the second time in his career, ruling him out for six months.

The 21-year-old is now set to return to Premier League parent club Aston Villa after a month at the Liberty Stadium.

O'Halloran is the third Swansea player to suffer a season-ending cruciate knee ligament injury in the last few weeks as talismanic midfielder Ferrie Bodde and full-back Marcos Painter are both out until next term.

The Irishman is also the third left-back to suffer an injury, following Painter and Fede Bessone, who has been ruled out until the new year with hamstring trouble.

O'Halloran will now undergo surgery to repair the damaged ligaments, the same operation he underwent in March.

Swans boss Roberto Martinez is now considering dipping back into the loan market to cover their trouble left-back position.

Alan Tate came on for O'Halloran, who was signed from Villa on a three-loan month loan deal as cover, against Sheffield United and he hopes to fill the cursed Swansea position.

"Hopefully it means I can get a run," said Tate. "I think I did well enough."