DERRY’S Enda Lynn says he is back to full fitness after an injury-disrupted 2016.
The Greenlough forward had continued his explosive form from 2015 into January last year when he broke his ankle playing for the Oak Leafers in the McKenna Cup final against Tyrone.
He left the ground in an ambulance and was out for the next six months. Determination and hard work got him back on the pitch in late July, but he says he was “playing catch-up” with his team-mates and the opposition.
“I’ve never been out too long and that was my first serious injury,” said Lynn.
“It was close to 26 weeks until I got back I then was away behind in terms of match fitness and speed. I was playing catch-up with the rest of the boys.”
After missing the Ulster Championship loss to Tyrone and the Qualifier against Louth, Lynn returned as a substitute and contributed points in the wins against Meath and Cavan. He got another point when he started the next game against Tipperary, but defeat at Breffni Park proved to be the end of the road for Derry.
“The levels of fitness and the speed of the games caught me out,” he said.
“You need to build a foundation before you build a house and I missed most of the stuff early in the season and you need to play games to get up to match fitness. You can do as much training as you want, but you still need the game time.”
With 2016 drawing to a close Lynn, predicts “next year will be a big one for Derry and me”: “Things are going well, I’m injury free and I feel as if I’m back to where I was at last year,” he added.
“I just go out and play my game and whatever I can give the team - if it’s 30 minutes or 50 minutes - I’ll do it. You go out and you try to win every game that’s out there, whether it’s the McKenna Cup or the league. You set yourself targets to get points on the board early on and take it from there.”
After the retirements of a host of last season’s regulars, including Ciaran McFaul, Christopher Bradley and Eoghan Brown, Lynn is now among the experienced players in the panel.
“I have no problem with lads who think they can’t commit because it is a big commitment,” he said.
“It takes an awful lot of your life away, there’s some things you just can’t do that you could have done years ago - you can’t socialise as much. It’s as close to professional as you can get even though it’s classified as amateur - it doesn’t feel like an amateur sport.”
Lynn scored a spectacular goal for Ulster in the Inter-provincial semi-final win at Parnell Park last weekend. The Greenlough forward sent a dipping shot over Evan Comerford and into the top corner of the Munster net to send the northern province on the way to this Saturday’s final.
“Claim it when you can,” he said with a laugh when asked if he had actually been going for a point.
“I was always told to try and hit the crossbar - if you try and hit the crossbar, you won’t be far away.”
Ulster face Connacht in the final at Carrick-on-Shannon on Saturday and Lynn’s enthusiasm hasn’t been dampened by the poor turnout for the semi-finals.
“I can’t wait for the final,” he said.
“It’s something different, something new to play with boys that you usually play against and it’ll be a nice medal to have if we do win it. It’s close to Christmas and it’s hard to get boys playing with holidays and all that. There are many reasons why it’s a problem, but I’ll always back it because it’s a great competition - you play against some of the best players in Ireland.
“If I was invited next year, I would definitely go back because it’s a good competition. Tony Scullion [assistant manager] was saying that he won six Railway Cup medals in his 10 years playing for Ulster and he cherishes them.
"He’s glad that he won them and he’ll always back it too.”
