“It was actually a blessing in disguise” | Cian Sheehan on the injury that reignited his career as Newcastle West prepare for Munster final

The 2022 All-Star nominee will make his first Munster Senior Football Club Championship final appearance this weekend.

We’re just days away from Newcastle West’s Munster Senior Football Club Championship final against Kerins O’Rahilly’s, their first appearance in the decider since 1987.

A flawless record in their Limerick Senior Football Championship campaign which secured back-to-back titles, was followed up by an incredible extra-time win over Clonmel Commercials in the Munster semi-final, avenging their 2015 defeat at the same stage.

And that was also the hurdle they fell at in 2021, losing 1-15 to 0-8 to Austin Stacks as they missed out on an opportunity to face St. Finbarr’s in the final.

On Saturday they face a Kerry side for the first time since that defeat and NCW’s Cian Sheehan acknowledges the poor record he has against the Kingdom but believes they’re in a much better position this year than in 2021.

“Unfortunately I haven’t a great experience against Kerry sides. Listen I think we’re in a much better position this year, I’m not looking anywhere past this week, we’ve put in a lot of hard work, I think we’re ready for the challenge and we’ll see how we fare.”

They bring a different level skill wise, tactical wise, physical wise, they’ve a lot of experience and they’ve some top class players. We know what we’re getting ourselves into.

Regardless of the occasion, the Limerick footballer is honoured to represent his club and has adopted the mentality to face the game as another step in the road.

It’s a privilege, it’s another game, I suppose there’ll be a bit more of a spotlight on this game at the end of the day it’s 15 v 15, you can’t really approach it any differently.

The final comes three years after Sheehan suffered a serious injury scare to his early career. While working in America, the Newcastle West man was taking a break from the sport but happened to damage his cruciate ligament in a game played over there.

That resulted in Sheehan returning home to undergo surgery and his recovery aligned with the off-period as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak which was a ‘blessing in disguise for him’ as he used the months to complete a full rehabilitation.

Since then, Sheehan has transformed into one of Limerick’s go too men which culminated in a first All-Star nomination earlier this year.

“I went away for a while I was working in the States and I ended up doing my cruciate over there, coming back and rehabbing it and I was just coming back with Limerick at the time and then Covid hit.

“It was actually a blessing in disguise because it gave me another couple of months to get back, it would have been only seven or eight months at that stage and I was getting back into contention for the league, it gave me another couple of months and I’ve just been coming back strength to strength because of it.”

The Munster final takes full focus for Sheehan now as he looks to make history with his club on Saturday night.

Newcastle West face Kerins O’Rahillys this Saturday at 3pm in Mallow in the Senior Munster Club Football Championship Final.

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