Leinster and Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan has revealed he is very much on the right road towards a full recovery from the anterior cruciate ligament injury that has kept him sidelined up to this point in the season.
After damaging his ACL during the opening Test of their summer tour of South Africa in Pretoria on July 6th, Sheehan missed out on Ireland’s rematch with the Springboks in Durban seven days later and was also marked absent for the four games Andy Farrell’s men played across last month’s Autumn Nations Series.
He has also been forced to watch on as Leinster have won their opening seven games in this season’s United Rugby Championship, but even though he is reluctant to put an exact time frame on his return to full fitness, Sheehan is hopeful of being available for selection in the early stages of 2025.
“I’d love to get a good chunk of the season, see how we go. I’ve been conscious not to put a time frame on it, because then it would be tempting to rush back. It’s very much a week-to-week thing. Hopefully into the new year. It might take a month or two, but that’s what I’m sort of aiming at,” Sheehan remarked at a Just Eat and Leinster Rugby partnership extension announcement at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday.
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“Just for the mind, I don’t want to put an exact date on it because then I’d be rushing. In terms of the knee, it’s coming along very nicely. Emma Galvin, my physio, has worked her ass off to get me to a good spot.
“I haven’t had one setback yet, so hopefully in the new year I can get kicking. I don’t want to rush it at the same time. It’s quite tempting, especially after the last month watching the lads out there playing big games. You’re like ‘I really want to get back’, but I’ll make sure I’m 100 per cent right and that’s when I’ll go back.”
Considering he has amassed 91 appearances for either province or country since making his Leinster senior debut for Leinster against Zebre back in October 2020, being ruled out of action for a long period isn’t something that the 26-year-old had previously experienced in the professional game.
He admitted the initial stages of his rehabilitation proved testing as a result, but he has been maintaining a positive outlook on his road to recovery.
“First long-term [injury]. I’ve had surgeries, the ankle and face, but they’re all six-weekers, or eight weeks max. This is the first time that we’ve been talking months. I suppose, it’s part of the game today. Obviously, it was pretty tough. The first couple of weeks trying to get it into your mind that you’d be out for a long time,” Sheehan added.
“What helped me at the start was, because it was straight into the holidays and preseason, I didn’t feel like I was missing everything. It hasn’t been as tolling on the mind as I thought it might be. I was able to get over the first hurdle of getting the surgery and getting into the right mindset early on. Seeing it as a time to reflect.
“I’ve been flat out since I made my debut for Leinster three or four years ago. It’s nice to have a period of time to reflect back, analyse the last couple of years. See areas you can improve on and give the body a bit of a rest. It’s pretty tricky trying to do that week on week, when you don’t have the time to look back. In that sense it’s grand.”
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