Rampaging return delights O’Neill

There were only 538 spectators in Páirc Uí Rinn to witness a McGrath Cup clash on a cold January afternoon yet the low-key setting could not detract from Colm O’Neill’s delight at returning to the inter-county game last Sunday.

In a GAA year that was defined by the cruciate curse that claimed a bunch of high-profile stars as victims, O’Neill’s tale of woe in 2011 stood out. On March 20 last he was left crumpled on the Pearse Stadium turf clutching his right knee, just 14 minutes into Cork’s Division 1 league tie with Galway.

Having previously torn his cruciate ligament in a championship game with his club Ballyclough in April 2008, he thought the worst. Eleven days later, O’Neill’s fears were realised as the news was broken to him at the Whitfield Clinic in Waterford that he was facing a long spell on the sidelines for the second time in four years.

Last Sunday capped off his recovery. It had been a long and arduous route to that juncture but the assistance of people like Cork physio Colin Lane enabled him to restore his knee to full health.

“The first day out in 2012 and I’m definitely happy to be back,” said O’Neill.

“I’ve been waiting for the New Year and the start of the 2012 season for most of last year. I worked away very hard with the masseurs and the physios throughout 2011. There’s big credit due to Colin Lane, he’s been working with me for the last seven or eight months. Any time I wanted him to do work, he was there.

“It was very tough to take when it happened as it’s been the same knee that it’s happened to twice. I was trying my best for a long time to find out why that was. But the main thing I found out is that it seems to have been bad luck really. It could have happened to anyone. I suppose you have to play the cards that are thrown up in front of you. That’s not to say it won’t happen again, who knows really.”

O’Neill has done countless gym sessions to build up the strength around his knee and undergone a rigorous rehabilitation programme.

Yet the true test was always going to come when he took to the field for a game, and that first ball was punted into his corner-forward berth. In the opening moments of Sunday’s match, O’Neill had his first chance to claim possession but fell to the ground in a tussle with Clare defender Martin McMahon. He immediately bounced back up and a significant hurdle had been cleared in his recuperation.

“Coming back to playing, it’s always in the back of your head about the knee. You’re still only going to the ball maybe 90% or 95%. Hopefully playing a few games will knock that out of me.

“Sunday was the first time that I really tested it. I’ve had training sessions and games within training but that’s nothing compared to what you go through when there’s a competitive match. That’s the real test. I’m just really glad to have 70 minutes of football under my belt now. The knee feels okay and I can focus for the year ahead.”

As comeback matches go, Sunday’s unfolded like a dream for O’Neill. Beforehand there was a nice touch by the Cork management in choosing him to lead the team out rather than regular captain Graham Canty.

In the 18th minute he tapped over a free to get off the scoring mark and before the break he stuck up his hand to neatly flick home Cork’s first goal.

Three more points followed in the second-half and while O’Neill was self-deprecating in branding his second goal in the 61st minute as ‘a hit and hope’, Conor Counihan’s remark that ‘it was a bit of a flash of the Colm of old’ was a more fitting description of the powerful strike to the roof of the net from 15 yards.

O’Neill is aware of the jostling that will ensue to get a place in the Cork attack this year. Only two of the seven forwards, who featured during last July’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Mayo, started last Sunday while Daniel Goulding and Ciarán Sheehan are set to return from injury in the coming months.

“To get through the game was the most important thing and anything else after that was a bonus. But to get the name on the scoresheet is great and that goes for any forward.

“You can see there that there’s going to be fierce competition for places in the forward line this year. Every little thing you can do when you get the chance to play is great. Hopefully though I’ve seen the last of an injury like that in my career and there’ll be a long 2012 ahead for me.”