THE county season will almost certainly come too soon, but Danny Toner hopes to make his return to action in the familiar green of his beloved Ballygalget once the Down championship gets under way this summer.
Injury saw Toner, one of the stalwarts of the Down hurling scene over the past decade, miss the county’s promotion-clinching climax to their Division 2A campaign in October, as well as the Christy Ring Cup campaign that brought them to another final in Croke Park.
In the closing stages of Ballygalget’s opening Down championship game against Bredagh back in August, Toner tore his ACL, meniscus, lateral ligament and suffered an impact fracture in his knee, leaving the 28-year-old facing a long road back.
“I was going rightly too in the game when it happened with about 15 minutes left,” he recalls.
“It was an injury I thought I would never get too. I actually thought my leg was broke at the time, I heard the crack. I turned the way I turned probably four or five times earlier in the game, but this time the second I went to turn I hit the deck.
“I’ve never torn a hamstring even, any injuries I’ve had would’ve been more impact stuff like broken collarbone, broken hand, fingers, nothing like this. I felt like my body was actually in good enough shape.”
With a wedding planned for July that had to be rescheduled until April, Toner wasn’t sorry to see the back of 2020.
However, despite initial fears that he could be sidelined for “a very, very long time”, recovery has gone more smoothly than anticipated and he is looking forward to getting back to what he does best.
“It’s going well, I’ve met all my milestones so far,” he said.
“I was able to get off crutches pretty soon after the operation. I did a brave bit of prehab so I’d built it up a good bit in that time. You hear all these stories about how tough it is, and it is tough, but if you’re in the habit of doing things you just sort of do it.
“I suppose the fact there’s nothing really happening makes it a bit easier too because you’re not missing a wild pile. It was hard for those last three or four championship games... probably the biggest thing is thinking ‘God, I’m 28, these are supposed to be my best years’ and now I’m losing a year.
“Initially it was looking like a very, very long time because there was so much damage done but I met the consultant before Christmas and he’s delighted with how it’s coming on. Things seem to be healing up well so, touch wood, I’ll get back sometime this summer – if we have something to return to.”
He was perched on a spin bike watching on a laptop as Down came up short against Kildare in the Christy Ring decider but, with promotion secured after so many near misses, and a crack at the Joe McDonagh Cup guaranteed, Toner is not lacking in motivation to get back.
“Missing the Christy Ring was hard to take.
“I’d love to have got back for Division 2A and the Joe McDonagh. I know it’s not Kilkenny or Tipperary level but you do train to get into a higher league and the minute that’s achieved, you’re not about to play in it!
“But there’s a good buzz about – it only ever takes a result or two for attitudes to change, and it’d be great to see Down do well up there.
“For myself though, if I could get back and play a few championship games with the club, that would be fantastic. I’ll just keep tipping away at the rehab, get running here and get myself back. You have to be patient with it but I know I’m on the right road.”
