16 days ago, against Switzerland, Alan Judge made his Ireland debut.
It was the culmination of months of beseeching from fans that the Brentford midfielder be given an opportunity by Martin O'Neill.
Judge has been one of the Championship's best players. In 38 games for his club this season, the Dubliner has 14 goals and 11 assists. This form garnered the attention of Premier League teams.
His hopes of making the trip to France this summer for Euro 2016 ended on Saturday. Also, his chances of taking that step to the top tier of English football received a detrimental setback.
Two minutes into Brentford's game against Ipswich, Luke Hyam flew in with a crunching tackle on Judge.
The result was a double leg break for the 27-year-old.
Hyam was shown a yellow card for the tackle and later would be sent off after being cautioned for a second time.
Hopefully Judge makes a swift recovery.
