Mayo star Keith Higgins will miss his team's next two Allianz Football League matches at least, and is a doubt for the rest of Mayo's matches in Division I.

The Ballyhaunis defender limped off with a hamstring injury in the first half of Mayo's defeat to Donegal at Ballybofey on Sunday, the latest setback for a player who first suffered the injury in Mayo's Connacht FBD League game against Roscommon on January 17.

Higgins will have a scan this week to determine the severity of the damage to his hamstring, and while his manager Stephen Rochford was cautiously optimistic about the player's prospects on Sunday, he will certainly miss Mayo's games against Monaghan (March 6) and Kerry (March 13), with the games against Roscommon (March 27) and Down (April 3) also in doubt for him.

Higgins missed Mayo's first two league games in Division I due to the injury, and his absence has been felt with Mayo sitting in the bottom two after losing their opening three games to to Cork, Dublin and Donegal respectively.

However, while Higgins will miss the next few weeks at least, things have eased on the injury front for Rochford with the return to the playing fields last weekend of Lee Keegan, Seamus O'Shea, Donal Vaughan and Andy Moran.