'This is a shocker really': Niall Currie 'never seen' injury keeping key Portadown player out of action

McCullough has missed the Ports’ last three Premiership matches, including Saturday’s Mid-Ulster derby draw with Glenavon.

The 31-year-old has been a top performer for the Co Armagh club since joining from Ballymena United in 2024, racking up 67 league appearances across the past two seasons.

McCullough has taken on captaincy duties at Shamrock Park this term when regular skipper Gary Thompson has been unable to feature as he manages his own injury issues.

Currie’s squad has been badly impacted at periods throughout the current campaign with weekend goalscorer Josh Ukek limited to 19 league outings while Shay McCartan has registered just 15.

Goalkeeper Aaron McCarey hasn’t featured since January and underwent knee surgery last month, ruling him out for the rest of this season.

It remains to be seen how long McCullough will be sidelined for with Currie describing an infected foot blister as “really messy”.

Portadown will host their final home match of the season on Tuesday night when Carrick Rangers visit and Currie admits the number of injuries has “hurt” his side.

"This is a shocker really,” Currie told PortsTV on McCullough’s absence. “He had a huge blister on the front of his foot, it got infected and it’s still a mess really.

"It’s very unfortunate because the system we played (on Saturday) would have been perfect for Stevie in regards to the width that we need.

"It is what it is, it’s a weird one, I have never seen a blister putting anybody out for a period of time, but this is a first.

"I think if you seen it you’d understand, it’s really messy, and it’s another loss for us...we have had so many this season and that’s another kick.

"If you look across the season, it’s mental, it really, really hurts with the amount of players we have missed for long periods.

"You can see the difference Josh Ukek makes and we’ve missed him for maybe five months of the season, it hurts you.

"Shay McCartan was missing for four months, Gary Thompson three months, Rabby Tabu (Minzamba) for half-a-season, Ahu (Obhakhan) has been out most of the season, these guys hurt you.

"We’ve been unfortunate in that way. When you look at everything, we have got a good honest bunch of boys and the main objective at the start of the season is to make sure the club keeps its Premiership status.

"I think we’re not too far away from that at the minute – we want to get there on Tuesday night with a good performance against Carrick and say thank you to our supporters.”