New setback for Offaly footballer on road back from career threatening injury

ONE of Offaly's unluckiest footballers has received a new setback on the road to recovery from a career threatening injury.

Kieran Dolan, captain of the Offaly side that won the All-Ireland U20 Football Championship in 2021, missed almost two years after a shocking injury while playing for Shamrocks in the Senior Football Championship against Ferbane in Tubber in 2022.

An excellent defender, Dolan suffered a horrific dislocated knee that day but thankfully, his latest injury is not as bad as initially feared. The Mucklagh man has shown fantastic character to battle back onto the Offaly senior football panel this year and got a hamstring tear in a recent training session. He played for Offaly in the National Football League in 2022 but hasn't featured since sustaining an injury that has not been forgotten by anyone present in Tubber that day.

It had been initially feared that the hamstring had come off the bone and would rule him out for four months but it is now expected that he will be back in action in nine weeks. That will probably rule him out of Offaly's campaign but at least he should be back for Shamrocks' championship campaign later in the season.

Dolan had been going very well in training and had worked so hard to get his fitness and confidence back. Clearly determined to make it as an Offaly senior footballer, it is hoped that his latest setback is only a temporary blip. He has been desperately unfortunate with injuries and was also forced to miss the All-Ireland U20 final win over Roscommon in 2021 with one.

He will continue to work with the Offaly senior football panel this year and was with the squad in Ennis on Sunday, where promotion to Division 2 of the National Football League was secured.

It would be great for Dolan to get through a full campaign with an improving Shamrocks side this year. He would be a major asset for a club getting ambitious about what they can achieve while the games would be a big help to him as he leaves no stone unturned in a bid to fulfil his considerable potential at county level.

Offaly footballers have been very fit this year but a repercussion of this has been a spate of hamstring injuries. Defenders David Dempsey and Diarmuid Egan and attacker Ruari McNamee have missed the bulk of the campaign after tears early on. McNamee did return as a sub last Sunday while Dempsey is nearly good to go and may be on the panel for this weekend's Division 3 final against Kildare. Kyle Higgins, who had really grabbed his opportunity with both hands, missed last Sunday's game after injuring his hamstring at training last week and he may not be back for Sunday's league final against Kildare.

Diarmuid Egan is not ready yet and that is very unfortunate for the Tullamore man as he had really impressed in the first couple of games and looked set to nail down a place. He could have done with the games but should be back for the championship.

Diarmuid's younger brother Cormac also encountered serious hamstring bother a couple of years ago. Outstanding on the 2021 All-Ireland U20 champions, Cormac had his early emergence stalled because of hamstring injuries. He has been in sensational form for Offaly this year as they got a promotion that no one predicted but he was not running freely in last Sunday's loss to Clare. There were a couple of times when he was clearly unable to do his usual hard runs with the ball, in support of a colleague or chasing down a break. This was the reason he was taken off near the end and hopefully, his hamstrings are not flaring up again.

Cormac Egan and Cathal Flynn have been the two outstanding performers in a great league campaign where several others have excelled and Offaly will not be taking risks for Sunday's Division 3 final against Kildare in Croke Park. While Egan will want to play and managers, Mickey Harte and Declan Kelly will want their best side out in Croke Park, the championship opener against Carlow or Meath is only the blink of an eye away on April 13 – and that game is infinitely more important than Sunday's repeat clash with Kildare.