Refreshed Rebel duo enjoying return

There has been a proliferation in hip injuries among inter-county GAA players of late, but two Cork hurlers are delighted to be over recent problems and ready to help their county progress further in the league.

Damien Cahalane appeared as a late sub in Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1B win over Wexford, which secured promotion to Division 1A for 2015. In addition, Séamus Harnedy, who played in all of the league games as he builds his fitness back up, showed he is fully up to speed as he hit five points from play.

It was dual player Cahalane’s first appearance in red this year but he pointed out his hip surgery late in 2013 had come when it least affected his inter-county activity.

“It’s nice to get back into the swing of things,” he said. “Even coming on, on Sunday, it was a big game for us and it just gives you a taste for it. It was an ideal time of year, a lot of lads have a break then anyway. I was rehabbing away the whole time and I had exercises to do so I was going through them. It was frustrating and it wasn’t, because I knew I had to have it done.”

Cahalane is keen to continue his recuperation with more games. He will be with the hurlers for Sunday’s league quarter-final against Tipperary, while fellow dual players Eoin Cadogan and Aidan Walsh will line out with the football side against Tyrone.

In addition, Cadogan’s brother Alan will also be available to hurling boss Jimmy Barry-Murphy despite having the Munster U21FC final against Tipperary three days later.

“Myself, Walshie and Cads, we’ve had our weeks set out for us so it has been fairly okay,” Cahalane said.

“I feel fairly good so far after having it done, so it was time well spent, for the next couple of weeks, it’ll be a thing of easing yourself back into it, 25 minutes here and there. The Wexford game was ideal for that and it brings you up to the pace of things.

“There’s nothing like match fitness, you can do all the running you want but a game is going to be different. From here on, it’s going to be about minding myself for the next couple of weeks and making sure I’m comfortable with everything I’m doing. After that, then I’ll look to kick on.”

Harnedy was pleased at how Cork’s performance against Wexford was an improvement on previous games, but he knew that it was not a win to get carried away with, either.

“We hadn’t been happy with our performances, but Sunday was a step in the right direction,” he said.

“We know that we still have a lot to work on, but we upped the intensity a bit and I think that the management will be happier with that. It’s good to see signs of us coming back into form.

“Once the team goes well and the result goes the right way, I don’t mind. Some days you’ll get scores and some days you won’t, last week I wasn’t great up in Antrim.”

The St Ita’s club man was out of action for the best part of five months before the start of the league, so he too is relishing the opportunity to play hurling, thankful of the work put in by the Cork medical team.

“It’s nice to be back out there, you never want to be on the sideline. It’s very tough watching it,” he said.

“I think I’m over the line. It was just a problem with the hips but I have that sorted, Deccie [O’Sullivan, physio] was very patient with me. I’m not the most patient character, I was always going up to him asking, ‘When will I be back?’ The team there are very good, they’ll get you back as fast as they can but they’re not stupid either, they don’t push you into the deep end when you could get a relapse of the injury. I’d just like to thank them as well.”