'I'm back now, thank God' - Rónan Kelleher ready to make up for lost time

A couple of injuries cost the Leinster man some big opportunities in green.

Fri, 02 Dec, 2022 - 07:10

Brendan O'Brien

Some players will pinpoint a first tackle, first carry or first catch after injury as the point where they finally flush all that pain, frustration and concern from the system. Rónan Kelleher’s lightbulb moment came long before the first whistle. His dawned as he drove into the grounds of the RDS last Saturday for Leinster’s URC meeting with Glasgow.

“I was like, 'grand, I'm back now, thank God'.” His previous appearance had only been two months before. Not exactly an eternity in linear terms but his first pair of appearances this season, against Zebre and Benetton in September, had themselves come on the back of a longer absence, courtesy of a shoulder issue that had cost him a summer in New Zealand.

Compounding all this was the fact that his latest issue, a hamstring, had all but ruled him out of Ireland’s November series. Put it all together and he has missed a series win away to the All Blacks and victories against South Africa, Fiji and Australia. That’s a cruel run of luck.

“They were probably equally as frustrating, to be honest. The shoulder (injury) last summer was an unbelievably frustrating time just because it was another bit of a grey area where I didn’t really know what was going wrong with it.

“To back that up with missing the November internationals as well… that block through my hamstring injury as well was another frustrating one. I’m glad it's behind me now, and onwards and upwards.”

Texts and phone calls from Andy Farrell and Paul O’Connell ensured that he wasn’t a forgotten man but it must be impossible not to feel left out, especially when Caelan Doris and Hugo Keenan, your housemates, are away in international camp.

None of this comes coated with self-pity. Yes, rehab can be a lonely place but Kelleher makes the point that others have been locked in its grip for far longer than him and his eagerness to look ahead rather than back is all too obvious.

The coming months are chock a block with opportunities to make up for lost ground with a league derby against Ulster feeding into the first two rounds of the Champions Cup and then another pair of interpros over the Christmas.

The Six Nations will swing around before anyone even realises it.

"Yeah, that was definitely said, but as a player you become quite focused on the week in front of you, so it was still quite difficult hearing it. It's difficult to take that information in when you want to be playing every week and a massive part of it is playing and getting back fit, getting training fit and match fit.

“I always find it difficult to come back in after an injury. It's easy to get into a routine when you're playing a lot and when you're fit as opposed to when you're injured, when it takes the body a bit of time to adapt to get back playing week in, week out again. So I always find just playing is a lot better than being in and out of the team through injury.”

A clear road is the least he deserves.

You have to go back to Paris last spring for his last appearance in an Ireland jersey when a busted shoulder caused his removal 25 minutes in. All told, he has missed nine Test matches in as many months.

Dan Sheehan, by way of contrast, has featured in every one of those fixtures. The only time he didn’t start was the Fiji game when Andy Farrell used him for just eight minutes. Having both of them fit can only be a good thing.

“He's playing great at the minute. It's one of those ones where it can only benefit the team, though. You look at what the Springboks did in 2019 when they had (Malcolm) Marx and Bongi (Mbonambi), they had minutes to go around.

“So as long as we're winning, that's the main thing, and the fact that we're both there, that competition is pushing us both on. It's just making sure to keep challenging each other and obviously learning together as well.”