Donnelly missed Saturday's Northern Ireland Cross Country Championships after suffering a recurrence of a knee injury which has troubled him over the past two months.

The Annadale Strider did resume training a week ago and hoped to compete in the Northern Ireland Championship in Coleraine.

However, he felt pain again in the knee in Thursday and he received a cortisone injection on Friday morning.

"The World Cross Country Championships are now out the window for me," Donnelly told BBC Sport Online.

"The target now is to get myself right for the Commonwealth Games in the summer.

"But time is running out for me as I really wanted to get a good winter in so that I could qualify for the Commonwealth Games.

"I'll be trying to get the Commonwealth 5000m standard.

"I can forget about trying to get the 10K standard as I simply haven't been able to put in the work over the winter.

"It's all very depressing," added Donnelly.

Meanwhile, Willowfield's Gary McLernon won Saturday's Northern Ireland Championship.