Michael Rice and Cathal Moore just happy to be back in action

The sense of nervous anticipation that comes with the start of the Leinster hurling championship is lost on Fergal Moore and Michael Rice, both of whom are simply relieved to be starting it at all.

It’s a few more weeks yet before Galway and Kilkenny step into action – and will likely end up in the final, on July 7th; but Moore, the Galway captain, has only now been given the all clear after the concussion sustained in last month’s league semi-final, while Rice is only now restored to full playing ability after the serious hand injury sustained in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Moore found himself concussed 20 minutes into the semi-final after an accidental clash with Kilkenny’s Walter Walsh: after an eight-minute delay on the field, Moore was stretchered off, and spent two nights at Clonmel Hospital under observation. All part of the game, he says.

“I don’t remember it at all, didn’t see it after,” he explains. “I had to take a couple of weeks off, mandatory, after concussion. I’m grand now. It was just one of those things. I went to give him a shoulder, turned funny and hit him wrong. He (Walsh) is a big unit and the way I hit him I think it was more a clash of heads more than anything.”

Yet it looked serious at the time – and there were questions in the immediate aftermath of Moore’s ability to get back in time for the championship: “I probably could have gone home that night but they have these protocols after head injuries, and they have to follow them, can’t take any risks. I wasn’t happy about it but you have to respect that and I got top class care.”

Not that the incident has in any way lessoned Moore’s love of the game: “Other sports are far more dangerous than hurling. It is a contact sport and to the outside eye it looks very dangerous, people swinging hurls. But when you are actually playing, it’s not that dangerous at all. There will be collisions and accidental collisions and that’s what that was but they are few and far between in comparison to other sport and I don’t think any hurler would be worried about that going out onto the pitch.”

Rice, meanwhile, has been easing his way back into hurling contact: “I’d a long old stint out, so just to be back playing hurling is really enjoyable at the moment. I properly got back into it really with that first league start against Clare.

“My hurling wasn’t properly back, but it was definitely a great boost to get going again and to get the start. These kind of frustrations when you’re coming back from injury mean I’m probably not up there where I’d like to be.

“That would be in your head, like would I go into tackles? But I’m happy enough that I’m going into tackles and probably getting knocked back out of it as well. It’s just getting back playing hurling naturally and your movement on the pitch and your confidence in that rather than anything to do with my hand.”

Elsewhere Sligo footballer Eamonn O’Hara has confirmed his retirement after 19 years service with the county. “It is with both sadness and a sense of great personal achievement that I announce my retirement from intercounty football,” he said.

“While Gaelic football has been and continues to be a massive part of my life, I believe after nearly two decades wearing the Sligo jersey, the time is right for me to step aside. I do so knowing that I was very privileged to have played for my county, my province and my country.”