Cillian O’Connor has declared himself fit for Mayo’s Connacht Championship tie with Leitrim this weekend.
O’Connor sat out the League defeat to Tyrone on Sunday, which resulted in their relegation to Division Two, but he said it was more precautionary than anything else after he suffered “a bit of a bang” on his right leg in the victory over Galway seven days earlier.
He explained: “The medical team did not want me taking the risk and kind of ruled me out. It was close, probably the toss of a coin but I had to sit it out.
“It was frustrating because it is a short season as well and if aggravated, it might rule me out of the whole thing so I had to be sensible.
“As of now, yes, touch wood I am very hopeful of being available,” he said, ahead of the trip to Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday.
O’Connor could have done without the lay-off having missed the first part of the League through injury, with his comeback appearance in March derailed by the coronavirus-enforced shutdown.
It meant that when he finally played against Galway earlier this month, it was his first game for the county in 14 months.
“I could not believe that when I looked at the diary. That was strange, it was the longest period ever in between games.
“I was coming back for the Galway game in March, I was nearly back and I was buzzing and it got pulled at the last minute. Such is life, you just have to get on with it.
“It was a knee problem I had at the tail end of last year which was lingering on so I had to do rehab around my legs which had lost a bit of strength from the previous year.
“I had an operation the previous year and I had lost a bit of bulk so I was rehabbing that back so they said hold off until the last two League games. I finally got back in contention for the Galway game when the competition was pulled.
“I do feel fresh, I am sure anybody would after that lay off but the fact that I had not been playing for so long, I was just delighted to be back.
“I was playing in-house games, As versus Bs, getting touches of the ball again and even having corner-backs hanging out of your for the first time in ages was enjoyable.
“I am re-energised alright.”
- Cillian O’Connor was speaking at AIB’s All-Ireland SFC launch.
