BERNARD TARGETS AUGUST
Dubs ace is hoping for a quick return for four-in-a-row effort
ALAN BROGAN has revealed that brother Bernard is targeting a return in time for Dublin’s four-in-a-row push. Bernard (below), 34 next month, had knee surgery last month after a suffering a cruciate ligament injury. But Alan said: “He’s looking at how quick can you get back and I think he’ll give it a lash to try and get back for probably August, the six-month mark.
“It’s still probably a big ask for a 34-year-old. But I know with work, he probably does have that flexibility that if he does have to devote a certain amount of time to it, he probably can.”
BERNARD BROGAN is hoping to shave months off his recovery in a bid to bolster Dublin’s four-in-a-row tilt.
It’s a big ask for Brogan (below), 34 next month, having just undergone undergone cruciate surgery.
But elder brother Alan outlined the plan for a return within six months with a view to featuring in the All-ireland semi-final and final, if Dublin progress that far. “It’s disappointing for him,” said Alan, speaking at the launch of the KN Group All-ireland GAA Golf Challenge.
“I obviously knew before it got out in the public domain. And he was fairly upbeat about it, as he is about most things.
“A lot of people have said to me since, ‘It’s terrible’. And I’m sure he’s disappointed underneath it all but you can’t change the past.
“He had the operation last
Tuesday and he’s back on his feet.
“I suppose he’s looking at how quick he can get back and I think he’ll give it a lash to try and get back for probably August time, the six-month mark.
“And I think that’s what he’ll aim for. He’ll try and get back for the end of the Championship.
But for the moment, it’s kind of one day at a time.” It’s a tall order though doable, says Alan, who succeeded his brother as Footballer of the Year in 2011.
He added: “I think it is possible to get back in six months. I think he was telling me that Fergus Mcfadden got back in four and a half so… I’m not sure he’ll beat that! “I suppose to feature this year, he’d need to get back by the sixmonth mark. If it pushes on to the All-ireland semi-final stages… unless he comes back in really good form, it’s hard to see anyone forcing their way back into the team at that stage.
“I know myself in 2013. I got back for the semi-final stage and obviously got back on the bench for the final and was actually in pretty good form.
“But Jim [Gavin] just went with the lads who were tested over that campaign.”
He concedes that a return in 2019 is “more likely”, but it agreed that, prior to the injury, 2018 was set to be Bernard’s swansong. He admitted: “I would have thought so. He obviously took a while to make his decision after the end of last year. “He probably said he would give it one last lash. He didn’t go on the team holiday, he was working away with a hope of getting some good early runs in the League.
“The work he put in in the first six or eight weeks of the season are wasted. So I think it would have been [his last year].
“But considering this, I wouldn’t rule him out of next year just yet.”