I feared I may have been Don & dusted

O’MOORE VETERAN HAD DARK DAYS

WHATEVER the outcome, Niall Donoher will enjoy his first Leinster final because in the dark days he questioned if it would ever happen.

Laois aren’t given a hope of knocking Dublin off their lofty provincial perch but they might take a little inspiration from when they came close to beating the Dubs in the 2012 All-ireland quarter-final

Donoher was present that day, although he had to watch from the sideline.

A few months earlier, the wing forward had undergone surgery on his knee for an injury that occurred in an innocuous moment in an O’byrne Cup game against Carlow.

“I just twisted it, going for a ball,” he recalled. “A simple twist and the cartilage just completely broke out of the side of my knee, so it was pretty bad.”

He missed the next 18 months, and after that suffered further knee problems. In total, he was out for two Championships and three League campaigns.

“So when you get a chance to get back in, you’re not going to be pass it up,” said the 32-year-old, who admits there were times when he questioned if he would return.

“You will go through those feelings. Sometimes it would come into my head that maybe I wasn’t going to get back here.

“But I had loads of unbelievable people behind me, got loads of backing and I put in the work – and the knee has been good ever since. There has been no problem with it.

“The surgeon said there was no reason why I couldn’t go back playing football as long as I managed it properly.

“Touch wood, I haven’t had many problems with it since. I’ll stay going as long as I can.”

Donoher points to the results Laois and Dublin have had since that 2012 meeting as evidence of the different roads they’ve travelled since.

“That was a close game. There was only a kick of the ball in it that day, but that’s a long time ago now and the teams have moved in opposite directions since then.

Donoher admits a Leinster final appearance was not a realistic prospect as his county began their Division 4 campaign this year, but now he feels differently about it.

“There’s no point in beating around the bush, we started off at a pretty low ebb this year. “Personally, I didn’t think this day would come around when we were starting out at the start of the year.

“But we had a good League, confidence was built up when we got a few wins. The group has really got tight and we know what we are about.

“The last few years have been very, very tough. Confidence was low in the group. But just from the start of the year, there have been a good few new lads that have come in, the older lads have come back and really knuckled down .

“It’s paying dividends. It is amazing what a few wins can do, how much it can raise confidence.

“The buzz is coming back. You can see Laois flags up and flying around the place again.”