AS EOGHAN KERIN swooped low to try to gather possession for Galway in the second half of their Connacht clash in Castlebar two weeks ago, he was aware of a Mayo player coming in to challenge him for the ball.
It was only after he picked himself up off the ground that the 24-year-old realised how an innocuous challenge had serious consequences for Mayo’s Tom Parsons and would represent a season-ending injury for the Charlestown club man.
“I thought nothing of it initially,” recalled Kerin.
“It was only when I got up off the ground, I could hear him in real pain. You could hear him screaming on the ground. In fairness to Conor Lane, he stopped the game straight away.
“I was the one that was directly involved. I was the one under his knee. It was just really innocuous. I just dived down on the ball and I think it was whatever way his leg was planted, it was just unlucky more than anything.”
The resultant lengthy stoppage hung like a cloud over the game when the action resumed. Galway were smiling in the aftermath as they marched on in Connacht but the misfortune Parsons suffered did not stray from the mind of Kerin as the severity of the injury emerged.
“I popped him a text on the Monday night just to wish him well. I think a lot of the other lads did as well, Army (Sean Armstrong) and Damo (Damien Comer) and I think a lot of the lads just touched base, more or less to just say best of luck with the recovery.
“Look it’s not nice to see. I think it took the sting out of the game. The game was held up for a good while. Tom seems like a real gentleman so it wasn’t nice to see him on the ground and in real pain as well.
“But I think the procedures have gone pretty well, so I’d like to wish him well in the recovery as well.”
Galway may have overturned Mayo for the third successive year on the provincial stage but Kerin refuses to believe that spells the end for their 2018 aspirations and reckons Stephen Rochford’s men will still surface in the Super 8s.
“Ah I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Mayo this year. They’re really good, they’re a seasoned team. You’ve the likes of Lee Keegan and these guys coming into a team.
“I suppose they’ve four weeks between then and their next qualifier game, it’s Limerick they’ve got. I would be very, very surprised if we don’t see them in the Super 8s.
“I know they’ve quite a bit more games but they’re a really experienced side, I can’t see them slipping up. We haven’t seen the last of them anyway that’s for sure.”
Galway are back out on the championship trail next Sunday against Sligo.
“(We were) kind of disappointed in the Mayo performance, I don’t think we performed to where we’re capable of. Hopefully now we’ll hit the ground running against Sligo and work from there.”
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