Pic: Polish star Arkadiusz Milik tweets a photo of his knee following James McClean tackle

Ireland were looking a little jaded in their attempts to claw back Poland when the substitute McClean turned Milik inside out with a powerful tackle.

The Ireland midfielder wasn't penalised for the tackle because he won the ball before going through Milik for a shortcut.

The hit reinvigorated Ireland, who would eventually fight back to earn a 1-1 draw thanks to Shane Long's late goal.

He tweeted the pic with the message: "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger..."

While the Irish crowd were enthused by the substitute's crunching tackle on the Polish attacker, it has been confirmed Milik strained his knee ligaments in the process.

Ajax, for whom the 21-year-old has scored 11 times this season on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, last night revealed the extent of the damage, meaning Milik may have played his last game for the Eredivisie outfit.

"I watched a replay of the foul and it was really scary," said Milik about McClean's robust challenge moments after he was introduced from the bench on 68 minutes. "My leg really hurts."

Milik managed to play on for another 16 minutes but Irish pressure, in part sparked by McClean's tackle, led to Shane Long's stoppage-time equaliser.

"Arek could be out for four weeks," said Poland doctor Jacek Jaroszewski. "It was a scary challenge and he's damaged his knee ligaments. He was lucky that it wasn't even worse."

Here is the hit: