Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAC’S MCGOVERN HAS SET HIS TARGET
KEVIN Mcgovern vowed to come back stronger after he signed off for the season with back-to-back hat-tricks for Immaculata before undergoing knee surgery this morning.
The 28-year-old centre-forward has been playing for the last five years with little to no cartilage in his knee after an accident on holiday, and was scheduled to have it repaired last season, only to be sent home by the doctor on the day of the operation. On that occasion, the orthopaedic surgeon decided his knee was still functioning satisfactorily, but after Mcgovern hurt it again a few months later against Rathfriland, the consultant agreed to get him in again.
With the recovery period estimated at six months before he can resume full training, it effectively rules him out for the rest of the season.
Mcgovern has been in great goalscoring form of late, bagging a treble a fortnight ago in their last game against Drumaness, and following that up with another hat-trick in Saturday’s 7-0 Intermediate Cup demolition of Dromore Amateurs.
That aside, it’s been a tough campaign for the Mac after Tony Heagney stepped down over the summer and then his replacement, Joe Graham, was forced to take time out due to family reasons. In his absence, the Mac’s senior players have been holding things together, but with the club already out of the running for the Premier Division title, Mcgovern reckons now is as good a time as any to take his enforced break ahead of the resumption of his career next season.
“I’ll be back for pre-season, I don’t think there’s any point trying to rush back, especially with the year we are having,” he said. “Out of all
the years, this is probably the season I could sit out for a while.
“I had a bad fall a few years ago on holiday and ever since then, my knee has popped out about six or seven times.
“Any time I was getting close to being fit, or getting a bit of form, it was popping out on me.
“They cancelled the operation on me last year. The doctor felt the ligaments and they felt strong enough, but about two or three months later it popped out again so I was back onto them so hopefully this time he doesn’t send me home.”
With half the season still to go, Mcgovern joked he still hopes to walk away with the top goalscorer award at the end-of-season do after six in two games took his tally for the campaign to 12.
“I signed off with a hat-trick and I got one in the last game as well, so two hat-tricks, out with a bang,” he smiled.
“I’m going to get top goalscorer now.”
On the season so far, Mcgovern admits their inconsistent form has been compounded by the fact they have no manager.
“We’ve just been managing ourselves and taking training ourselves, it’s been dog rough for us, but we’re just sticking by each other,” he said.