Second shoulder surgery for O’Mahony

Munster captain Peter O’Mahony has undergone a second shoulder operation in the space of a month, provincial head coach Rob Penney said yesterday.

O’Mahony faces six months on the sidelines having injured his left shoulder in Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final victory over Toulouse on April 5.

That required season-ending reconstructive surgery for the Ireland back rower and O’Mahony has used the lengthy rehabilitation time to resolve an issue in his right shoulder, undergoing keyhole surgery last week.

“He has had ongoing issues for a long time with the shoulders so he is getting both of them tidied up,” Penney said yesterday of the 24-year-old O’Mahony.

“It is brilliant and it is great. He can get them out of the way now and he can hit the ground running early next season, post his rehab, and not have any issues with those for the rest of his career. That’s his hope.

“When it is right it is right, you can’t put time on it,” he said.

Penney’s more immediate concerns are to prepare Munster for a probable RaboDirect Pro12 semi-final away to Glasgow the weekend after next, with his third-placed side facing fourth-placed Ulster at Thomond Park on Saturday night in the final game of the regular season. Both sides are guaranteed a top-four finish with Glasgow facing Zebre in their final game and likely to hang on to second spot.

Munster have two injury concerns from last weekend’s 55-12 win at Edinburgh with hooker Duncan Casey suffering a right shoulder injury and set to meet with a specialist tomorrow while try-scorer Andrew Conway sprained a toe in his right foot and was due to undergo a scan yesterday.

Scrum-half Cathal Sheridan returned to training at the University of Limerick yesterday having broken a bone in his arm in February against Ospreys while tighthead prop Stephen Archer is “progressing well” with his rehabilitation from a bulging disc in his neck, according to the club.

They, and back-row Barry O’Mahony, who underwent knee surgery for cartilage repair work look likely to see out the season on the sidelines, as do Mike Sherry (knee), Dave O’Callaghan (knee) and Donnacha Ryan (foot).

“All are on schedule,” Penney said. “Mike was out there doing some work, he might get an opportunity to train with us before the end of the season if he hangs in there long enough.

Of Ryan, he added: “He is just taking a very cautious approach to his injury and it is just a week by week proposition.”