Hannon not ruling out All-Ireland final involvement should Limerick advance to decider 

NOT DONE JUST YET: All-Ireland winning captain and eir ambassador, Declan Hannon of Limerick. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Declan Hannon has not ruled himself out of being available for the All-Ireland hurling final, should Limerick win their last-four clash at the beginning of next month.

A knee injury has taken the Limerick captain out of the equation for their All-Ireland semi-final on the weekend of July 8/9. If Limerick are successful in the penultimate round and reach a fourth consecutive decider two weeks’ later, Hannon is hopeful of being back in contention by then.

“You'd always be hopeful,” said the centre-back. “I'd try and play some part if I can at all, if they throw me in there. Yeah, look, it just depends on how it recovers in the next few weeks.

“But we obviously have a massive game coming in the semi-final. That's where our full focus is and that's my focus at the minute as well - helping out the lads as much as I can in the lead-up to that.” 

The 30-year-old said there is no ligament damage and described the injury as more of a “nick on my knee”.

“There's not really a timeline [in terms of getting back on the field]. It just depends on how it recovers now in the next few weeks. I'm just taking it day-by-day, trying to get the rehab going and trying to get back on the pitch as soon as possible.” 

Having made his championship debut back in 2011, the four-time All-Ireland-winning captain has only missed one championship game during his 13 seasons in green.

Against that pretty impressive backdrop of summer-on-summer consistency, there must surely be disappointment and frustration at the timing of this setback.

“It's fine. It is what it is. It's part of the game. I've been lucky enough so far in my career that I've never had any major injury really, so it's fine.

“In Limerick over the last few years we've had a couple of lads who suffered long-term injuries. We had it this year with Seánie [Finn], obviously Cian [Lynch] last year and Mike Casey, Peter Casey and Richie English over the last number of years too. 

"They were in, not a similar boat, but they suffered injuries that put them on the sidelines for a long time. The way they reacted, I'd look back on that and they were always so positive.”