Jack McCaffrey hoping to return for Championship action

Thu, 14th December 2017

Dublin defender Jack McCaffrey is setting himself as series of short-term goals as he continues his comeback from cruciate surgery.

The flying wing-back suffered the dreaded cruciate injury in the early minutes of the All-Ireland SFC final victory over Mayo last September and a month later went 'under the knife' of surgeon Dr Ray Moran.

While Jack hopes to be back in contention for the start of next year's Leinster SFC he says it's more important to keep making those short-term targets.

“I’m pretty loath to try and set a date because I’ll only end up missing it, so I’m taking it in little steps.

"It seems like it (late May) will be in or around the right date, but I’m not sure,” says Jacks.

His post-surgical recovery is going well though as he continues to address his short-term goals.

“Initially that was fully straightening the leg, then it was getting off crutches. So I’m kind of excited about the next few months."

Reflecting on the injury at the time he adds: “I’ve watched it back a lot of times. It’s incredibly innocuous. I was going in a straight line; I tried to turn ever so slightly. It’s a movement I’ve done thousands of times before and hopefully will do thousands of times again but, I don’t know, the knee just didn’t fancy it that day.

“It was really bad for about 30 seconds - it was very, very sore. By the time the medics came on and I got a drink of water it had gotten quite a bit better.

“I tried to stand in the corner and make someone come and mark me, which they declined to do!

"So then I thought I could get on the ball but the lads recognised passing me the ball would not have been beneficial.”

Jack McCaffrey was speaking at the launch of the 2017 GOAL Miles in Irishtown Stadium. The popular annual fundraiser, which is now in its 36th year, will be staged at more 130 locations nationwide over the Christmas and New Year period. To find your local GOAL Mile, visit www.goalglobal.org