Sleepless nights over for Mike Sherry

A Friday evening in August is rarely the moment of which childhood rugby dreams are made yet for Mike Sherry the chance to run out in a low-key pre-season friendly against Connacht carried all the emotion of a torrid European night under the floodlights.

During the preceding 21 months the Munster hooker had been kept awake with the worry he might not play again as his troubled shoulder repeatedly went under the knife without resolution.

Many of Sherry’s childhood dreams had already been fulfilled, not least playing for his native province and representing his country at Test level yet the thought of being forced into retirement in his mid-20s after three surgeries filled him with dread. Which is why that August night at Thomond Park carried so much significance as the 27-year-old pulled on a red jersey for the first time since November 2013.