Damien Comer overcomes ‘rodeo ride’ in style

MATCH WINNER: Galway’s Damien Comer celebrates scoring the first goal of the game. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

When accepting the man of the match award in front of the Hogan Stand, Damien Comer blew out his cheeks and announced to the thousands listening that “we’re back”.

He was speaking about Galway, of course, and an end to the county’s 21-year wait for an All-Ireland final appearance, but Comer could just as easily have been referencing himself.

Saturday’s bulldozing display and 2-2 scoresheet contribution was a centre stage performance the full-forward has long been capable of producing, but one that threatened never to materialise as he spent the last number of years fighting setback after setback.

It was an injury reel rooted in the most unlikely and innocuous of settings - a St Stephen’s Day five-a-side kickabout.

Whilst sweating off the turkey and ham from Christmas dinner 2018, Comer injured his ankle during the charity soccer game he participates in on December 26th of every year.

Sent for a scan the following day, the results showed no damage to the ankle. But after seven weeks of endless rehab and zero improvement, a second scan was called for.

The results, on this occasion, read much differently. Comer had fractured his medial malleolus, for which corrective surgery was required.

In the end, his 2019 inter-county season amounted to 35 minutes off the bench in the fourth-round qualifier defeat to Mayo.

A second surgery in November of that year to remove the pins from his ankle laid him up for another eight weeks and while he resumed his place in the Galway attack during the pre-Covid League action of 2020, further disruption visited his doorstep when he tore his hamstring four minutes into the county’s first League game post-lockdown.

Comer's rotten luck extended into 2021 as a hand fracture suffered in the League win over Roscommon sidelined him once again, the same as hamstring tightness earlier this year removed him from the starting line-up for the county’s opening two league games.

Upon returning to the first 15 for Galway’s Round 4 game against Cork, he kicked 1-1, followed by 1-3 against Offaly.

An injury-free run facilitated a rising graph, culminating in his greatest day in maroon on Saturday.

“It's special,” replied the 28-year-old when asked for his semi-final thoughts as he made for the team bus in the long tunnel underneath the Hogan.

“I've had a rodeo ride with injuries through the years so it's a big one for me personally and my family, as well. The injuries were mentally challenging and you question a lot of things when you're going through rehab in the gym. You have to take the good with the bad.”

Saturday was good, albeit there was no sunshine and roses early on.

Two of Derry’s first three points were kicked by Comer’s marker, full-back Brendan Rogers. From there on, though, theirs was a duel won by the Annaghdown native.

It was he who had the gumption to go and find space when there was none for Galway’s opening point on 21 minutes.

It was his shot that was deflected out for the controversial ‘45 converted by Shane Walsh.

It was he who split the posts after HawkEye had ruled out Walsh’s ‘45 to make sure Galway went in only one down and came back out level.

It was his two second half goals that settled this semi-final.

“You have got to give Damien Comer unbelievable credit. Brendan threw the gauntlet down to him early on. In a tense game like that, his contribution was unbelievable,” said Derry manager Rory Gallagher of the man who led their demise.

Last word to Comer himself.

“It was a sweet one. Every battle we go through, we're just getting better and better each time.”

That’s true for both full-forward and county.