Galvin takes first step on long road back

Four minutes at the back end of a Division 4 fixture at a freezing Ruislip is hardly the stuff of schoolboy dreams but, for John Galvin, his brief appearance in London two days ago was the realisation of a long-cherished goal.

For the Limerick midfielder, it was the first taste of competitive inter-county action in exactly a year, since the day he ruptured cruciate ligaments in his knee against Fermanagh — a month into his return from an identical misfortune.

All told, the guts of two seasons have swept by without the man from Croom, who had established a reputation as one of the outstanding centre-fielders of his generation before injury took its toll.