Football

Kevin Dyas hoping for early return to Armagh action

Armagh's Kevin Dyas is helped off the pitch after suffering an injury against Tipperary in the league earlier this year  
Armagh's Kevin Dyas is helped off the pitch after suffering an injury against Tipperary in the league earlier this year   Armagh's Kevin Dyas is helped off the pitch after suffering an injury against Tipperary in the league earlier this year  

ARMAGH star Kevin Dyas is hoping 2016 will be a better year than the one just about to end.

A broken finger and two separate knee injuries blighted 2015 for the Dromintee man and restricted him to just the one full game - the Division Three league final win over Fermanagh. When we spoke, he had just completed over a month of rehabilitation on the torn cartilage injury sustained in a freak accident with team-mate Jamie Clarke a couple of weeks before the Ulster championship defeat to Donegal which ended his season.

Earlier in the year, he lasted just a couple of minutes against Tipperary in a league game before colliding with the Tipp 'keeper and damaging the medial ligament in his knee. It is clear the 28-year-old, undoubtedly one of the most talented players currently at the disposal of manager Kieran McGeeney, cannot wait to get back into competitive action.

Furthermore, a fit Dyas would be a serious boost to the Orchard county for the coming season. Although he is setting no targets for a return, as he just wants to be back involved in the cut and thrust.

“Last year was probably my worst year of injuries now - I’ve had my fair share, but last year was probably the worst,” said Dyas.

“I rested the knee for a good bit - I went away on holidays and stuff and didn’t do anything on it and then I started back doing my rehab stuff on it there over a month ago. It’s a tricky enough injury to manage, so I’m just taking my time with it and trying to get it right.

“It’s difficult enough to assess dates as to when I’ll be back but, personally, I’d hope to be fit for the start of the league. I will maybe play a little bit of McKenna Cup if everything goes to plan over the next few weeks but, realistically, I’d say the league.

“Obviously, players just want to play matches - I’m no different - all I want to do is play in matches. Every player has their injuries and people know how frustrating it is, but I’d like to be playing as much as possible.”

2016 will be the second season in charge for manager Kieran McGeeney and, although promotion to Division Two in his first campaign will have been welcomed by the Armagh faithful, their abject performance against Donegal in Ulster was a defeat that raised questions about this Armagh side.

Dyas was asked whether there are added expectations on the manager to deliver given his exalted status within the county. The former Aussie Rules player agreed there is, but was quick to point out  those expectations are also shared by the players.

“It’s a good question,” said Dyas.

“It definitely is a fair statement to say that ‘Geezer’ does have legendary status in Armagh and I guess, with anything that Kieran gets involved in, there is an expectation of him because of the reputation and the success he had as a player.

“People automatically assume that that’ll progress into management and I think if you look at his time with Kildare, he definitely brought Kildare on leaps and bounds and there’s no doubt about that. I guess, with us, it’s the same sort of thing. We’ve been poor for the last number of years really and we’ve definitely failed to deliver on expectation and, yes, there’s pressure on Kieran, but there’s pressure on the players too,” he insisted.

“There are a lot of players, including myself, who have been there a good long time now and haven’t been successful, so I wouldn’t say it’s just on Kieran, it’s on everybody I guess but, with anything, Geezer will always carry that sort of hype and expectation about him purely because of the person he is.”

As for that defeat to Donegal - a home clash at the Athletic Grounds, a game in which Dyas came on, it is obvious the pain of the loss and the manner of it still rankles and that no effort is being spared to avoid a repeat.

“Last year was extremely disappointing from a team point of view,” declared Dyas.

“I watched it back and it was a really strange thing to watch - some very experienced players giving the ball away under no pressure and I think a lot of Donegal’s scores came from not even forced errors.

“From our point of view, they were completely unforced errors and turnovers from players that, obviously, you play with and know how good they are. But things like that happen and I guess we just weren’t at the races that day and we would definitely like to hope that that wouldn’t happen again with any of us.”

Mention of his team-mate Clarke prompts the obvious question of whether he thinks the Crossmaglen player will commit to Armagh for the season. Unsurprisingly, Dyas would be happy if he did so.

“It’s no secret that Jamie is one of the best forwards in the country and any team would love to have him but, again, Jamie has to make his own decisions and whether that’s to be around for Armagh is up to him,” said Dyas.

“It’s not really for me to say but, obviously, he’s playing away for Cross and it’s great to see him playing and, if Jamie did make himself available at some stage for Armagh, it would be great.

“If not - it’s an old cliché, but it’s just up to other people to step up and fill in for his place. It’s just up to Jamie to make his decision on what he’s doing.”