Better days for Eoghan O’Gara after annus horribilis

Asked to consider the lowest point of his year-long rehabilitation from a cruciate knee-ligament injury, Eoghan O’Gara, the big Dublin forward, didn’t have to thumb too far through his mental files.

“The stand-out thing, for me, was missing the team environment and just training on your own, the early mornings, guys preparing for matches and you couldn’t be further from that, so that was the most difficult part,” he said.

Watching Dublin claim Allianz league, Leinster, and All-Ireland titles in his absence in 2015 can’t have helped.