Joe Canning reveals awful details of his hamstring injury

We've nearly truly appreciated our functioning, intact hamstrings until now.

Joe Canning considers himself fortunate. He ripped his hamstring tendon and is five months into an expected eight-month spell on the sidelines... and he feels lucky. The Galway forward may not have known it before his wretched injury against Tipperary but he is well aware now. He was perilously close to losing his GAA career. During last September's GAA Hour, Damien Hayes revealed the extent of Canning's lay-off. The three-time All Star said:

"He was an awful loss to Galway on the day and he's an awful loss to us as a club... Joe had an operation and, at the moment, he's going around on crutches. I feel sorry for him.

Surgery and time is healing his damaged hamstring and Canning is confident that he will recover to play a big part in Galway's title ambitions. He may get some league action and should be back to his best by the time the championship summer comes around. Canning spoke with reporters at Croke Park on Thursday and offered some details of the gruesome injury that has left him on the outside, looking in. He commented:

"I ripped the tendon basically. The muscle is fine. The tendon attaches the muscle to the bone in your arse basically. If it comes off the bone, it usually brings a bit of the bone with it. "So Paul O’Connell, for instance, would have brought some of the bone and that never really heals. "So you’d see a lot of rugby guys now retiring from it. It’s five months next Tuesday since the surgery, so they say it’s a seven/eight month kind of a thing. I’m a little bit ahead but I’d say it will be March by the time I’m fully back."

One hopes that Canning takes all the time he needs to get right and leave his injury hell firmly in the rear-view mirror.