If he puts mind to it, Bernard can play in August
MCCARTHY BACKING BROGAN
JAMES MCCARTHY has backed Bernard Brogan’s bid to return to fitness by the back end of the Championship.
Brogan recently underwent cruciate ligament surgery and his brother Alan revealed this week that he’s hoping to bounce back by August, which is at least a couple of months earlier than the norm for injuries of that nature, in order to aid Dublin’s All-ireland fourin-a-row effort.
It’s a big ask but Mccarthy, speaking at the announcement that Ballygowan and Club Energise is to renew their partnership with Dublin GAA for another three years, isn’t writing his 34-year-old teammate off.
He said: “I’m sure if he put his mind to it he could do it. Who knows? It depends on how the recovery goes and how the training goes.
“From our side we just wish him the best. If we do see him later on in the year that would be great. But it’s obviously a big injury and it’s a tough place to come from.
“We were training, think we were just doing a bit of kicking when he went down. It’s tough, very unlucky.
“He was going really well at the start of the year and had been getting some game time. You wouldn’t wish that type of injury on anyone.”
Two years ago Mccarthy found himself in a similar position when he suffered a knee injury in similarly innocuous fashion at training though he discovered days later that he had only suffered medial ligament damage, much less serious than the cruciate, and was back for the All-ireland semifinal, final and final replay that year.
“Just ice it and get your scan. You’re obviously thinking the worst, a bad ACL injury or something like that. It wasn’t too bad.
“That’s the scary thing with the knees. I done the MCL just going to catch a ball and you come down and your leg kind of folds.
“We saw Jack [Mccaffrey] last year. I don’t think anyone was tackling him, just went to step a guy and [clicks fingers] the thing just blows up on you.
“That’s the frightening thing about the cruciate or the knee injuries.”
In the meantime, Dublin have the opportunity to book a spot in the League final for the sixth consecutive year if they beat
Kerry in Sunday’s rearranged clash at Croke Park and other results fall into place.
Kerry have fielded a youthful side this year so far after four successive All-ireland minor titles. Mccarthy said: “They’re young, they’re brash, they’re going to be coming up and want to take you on.
“The few clips I’ve seen, they look very good players and they physically seem ready for it, Sean O Shea, Dave Clifford are big lads at 6ft 1, 6ft 2, so it’s a good challenge and barometer for the year of where both teams are. Both teams will go at it hard on Sunday.”
We were just doing a bit of kicking (in training) when he went down. It’s tough, very unlucky..