Treaty teammate's company shortens road to recovery for Peter Casey

Barry Murphy ruptured his cruciate soon after his fellow Limerick forward

Tue, 16 Aug, 2022 - 08:00

Eoghan Cormican

Limerick hurler Peter Casey has admitted that the road back from a ruptured cruciate ligament would have been “10 times worse” had he not had teammate Barry Murphy beside him for every step of the journey.

Having suffered the dreaded injury at the end of the first half in last year’s All-Ireland final win, Casey’s involvement in the county’s three-in-a-row success this summer was limited to bench impact roles in the second half of their semi-final and final victories.

He had five points to his name when forced to depart the 2021 decider, but Casey quickly found solace in numbers as fellow Limerick forward Barry Murphy ruptured his own cruciate a fortnight later.

Once the pair had undergone their respective surgeries and dispensed with the crutches, they were handed their rehab programs, packed their resistance bands, and made for the gym together to begin the long and uncertain road to recovery.

With Casey’s older brother Mike having done his own cruciate a year earlier, Peter had some idea of what lay in store in attempting to work his way back to full fitness, but not even this ringside knowledge could prepare him for the days where the challenge was as much mental as it was physical.

“You have plenty of low days. Myself and Barry Murphy were on the exact same timescale with the cruciate and we had plenty of low days, but it was great that I had Barry and Barry had me and we were able to count on each other,” said the 2021 All-Star.

“It was fantastic to have Barry. There were loads of times when me and Barry were doing runs and I can only think if I'd been by myself then it would have been 10 times worse. To have Barry going through the whole thing made it so much easier, especially in the gym and in the runs in Rathkeale back in the wintertime. It made it a whole lot easier.

“It's days like All-Ireland final day that you're hoping to get back to when you’re in the gym, so it's absolutely fantastic to be back and to be part of it, and make a contribution as well is unreal.”

As mentioned above, Casey made his first appearance of the year in green when introduced as a second half sub against Galway in the semi-final, a role he reprised on the concluding day of action against Kilkenny.

His latter introduction meant that for the first time since Limerick took charge of the hurling world, both Casey brothers were on the field of play when the last whistle sounded on All-Ireland final day.

“Mike was off in 2018 and he wasn't around the last two times with injuries. It was great that the two of us were on the pitch together at the end. I'd say my mother didn't thank us too much because her heart would have been all over the place, but it was brilliant to have the two of us on the field at the finish.

“In 2018, it was new to everybody, so it was like a circus; in 2020 there was nobody there; in 2021 there was only half capacity, so to finally get a chance to sit down and soak it all in, it meant so much to everybody.

“We didn't really get a chance to do that in 2018 because nobody knew what was going on. This time you could soak it in a bit more and obviously, it makes it a hell of a lot sweeter.”

As well as the increased competition brought by youngsters such as Cathal O’Neill and Colin Coughlan, Casey pointed to the unrelenting ferocity of Paul Kinnerk’s training environment as a key factor in Limerick’s latest defence of Liam MacCarthy.

Though their rivals mightn’t enjoy hearing the following, the corner-forward twice noted that Limerick’s training sessions are tougher than the matches they play.

“The trainings are always a small bit harder than the matches. It's always harder in training sessions, you nearly find it easier then in matches and that's testament to Paul and the management team. They're just absolutely fantastic and I can't speak highly enough of them.

“We'll go back hard next January or December and we'll get back into it again.”