Oisín Kelly recovering well after cruciate surgery
Oisín Kelly in action for Offaly against Derry in the 2021 Christy Ring Cup Final.
By John Harrington
2021 Christy Ring Cup Hurler of the Year, Oisín Kelly, is making a good recovery from the ruptured cruciate ligament that ended his season.
The talented attacker sustained the injury training with his club Belmont in September, but so far thankfully his rehabilitation is going as well as could be expected.
“The rehab is going well, I'm actually just going into the gym now at the moment,” Kelly told GAA.ie today. “I'm six weeks since the operation so the I'm hoping the worst of it is done now.
“It's not bad, it was slow at the start and the rehab is boring enough, but the worst of it is done I'm hoping and it has all gone to plan so far.
“The day I done it was actually my brother's first training session back from doing it himself, so he's been able to point me in the right direction. Ah, sure, it's so common these days that you'll always someone to talk to about it.
“The physio I'm going to has actually done it twice himself, so I've no shortage of good advice anyway.
“It's still obviously a bit of a disaster and I couldn't believe when it happened first. I went from being 100 per cent fit and healthy to being out for seven, eight, nine months, and that was hard to get my head around at the time.
“It is what it is, all I can do now is to prepare myself to come back.”
Kelly’s injury is a blow for Offaly because he was absolutely outstanding for the Faithful County this year during their successful Christy Ring Cup campaign.
He scored 2-10 from play in just three matches, including a seven-point haul in the Christy Ring Cup Final against Derry.
Oisín Kelly of Offaly, centre right, and team-mate Brian Duignan celebrate their side's victory after the Allianz Hurling League Division 2A Round 4 match between Offaly and Down at Bord na Móna O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly.
Blessed with pace, power, and an eye for a score, Kelly is one of those rare players who always seems to make things happen whenever he gets his hand on the ball.
“I always want to get my hand on the ball and it doesn't matter the situation or who we're playing,” he says.
“And with everyone else playing with such confidence and with us moving the way we were moving this year, it's easy to have confidence when good ball is coming in and everyone else around you is playing well.
“The Christy Ring Cup was not exactly where we wanted to be but we're going in the right direction and it's good to get something at the end of it.
“We've all taken a lot of encouragement for how the year went. We've a young group of lads so it's nice to get into a bit of winning momentum rather than being in a League where we're outclassed in and getting a lot of defeats at a young age because that's not what you want to be experiencing.
“There's definitely some momentum building now after the year we've had. Even going to training sessions is a lot easier when you're winning. There were a couple of years there where we were relegated and losing all our games and it was nearly like going to a funeral going to training sessions a lot of the time. So it's great now to be winning again.”
Michael Fennelly’s Offaly team will have a really good opportunity to see just how far they’ve come when they compete in Division 1 of the Allianz Hurling League against Limerick, Wexford, Galway, Cork, and Clare in 2022.
That’s going to represent a serious step-up in standard, but Kelly believes it’s a challenge to be embraced rather than feared.
“It's definitely not going to be easy, but they're the teams you want to be playing at the end of the day,” says Kelly.
“You grow up as a kid dreaming of playing these teams and it'll really give us an eye-opener of where we need to get to.
“We're not setting out to win the League or anything, but we definitely want to be competitive and it'll show us where we need to get to in the next two or three years.”
Kelly is resigned to missing the League campaign as he continues his rehabilitation, but, all going well, hopes to play some part in Offaly’s subsequent Joe McDonagh Cup campaign.
“The Joe McDonagh Cup is in May which gives me eight months since the operation,” he says. “Everything going according to plan with no set-backs, that's what I'd be aiming for.
“But I'm not fully getting my hopes up for it at the moment because it is a big ask. But if everything goes the way it should go and I do my rehab well, then I'll give myself a good chance to get back for the McDonagh which I'd be absolutely delighted with.”
