Christy O'Connor: Liam Rushe can complete one GAA's most sensational comebacks

Kerry's All-Ireland SFC round 1 clash with Donegal is a huge game for multiple reasons. It being played in Killarney adds an aura to the occasion

Liam Rushe's second coming with the Dublin hurlers has been hugely impressive. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

In early March, Liam Rushe picked up the phone to Niall Ó Ceallacháin and gave him the news that the Dublin manager had been waiting over two years to hear. Rushe told Ó Ceallacháin that if the Dublin manager still wanted him back that he was fit and healthy and willing to return to the Dublin hurlers after four years away from the inter-county game.

Ó Ceallacháin nearly bit Rushe’s hand off. When he was appointed in the autumn of 2024, he had asked Rushe if he’d be interested in coming back. The timing was tricky because Ó Ceallacháin, Rushe and Na Fianna were still in the process of winning Leinster and All-Ireland club hurling titles for the first time. Their campaign went on until late January when Na Fianna beat Sarsfields from Cork in Croke Park. When Ó Ceallacháin posed the question again, Rushe said he couldn’t face into another long season when he had been carrying an injury throughout that year.