Conway buries demons after two-year absence

WHERE better for Mikey Conway to get over his injury demons than the place where his football career came to a shuddering halt two years ago?

It was in another qualifier against Wicklow in O’Moore Park where the Nurney man fell to the ground with a cruciate knee injury.

What followed was months of frustration as he damaged it again while suffering from patellar complaints.

His 64th-minute introduction in Saturday’s tie was rapturously greeted by the Kildare crowd in Portlaoise.

It helped that the Lilywhites had the game sown up at that stage but they were just as aware of how much Conway has endured to return to the fold.

“Two years almost to the day,” he recalled afterwards when discussing the injury. “I suppose there’s no better place to come back than at the place where it happened. I’m just delighted to get back. For the medical staff, the management and everybody who has helped me through it, only for them I wouldn’t be here. I can’t thank them enough.”

Conway’s return has been gradual, although Kieran McGeeney was left with no choice but to bring him into the panel last month after some excellent performances for the junior team. McGeeney described Conway’s cameo as “exceptional” but the player knows he has to up his fitness levels.

“The lowest point was not being able to go to the gym or train before matches. Thank God it’s all behind me.

“I wouldn’t say I’m back to my best. I’ve still got a bit to go.”

Conway’s captain John Doyle was delighted with the way in which his players reacted after the disheartening Leinster semi-final defeat to Dublin.

“You take a day or two to get it out of your system and then you go again. It’s what Kieran and the management have instilled in us and that hasn’t happened overnight. It’s taken four hard years to get that belief.