LEINSTER AND IRELAND hooker Dan Sheehan says he is on the road towards a full recovery from the anterior cruciate ligament injury that has kept him sidelined up to this point in the season.

After damaging his ACL during the opening test of their summer tour of South Africa in Pretoria on 6 July, Sheehan missed out on Ireland’s rematch with the Springboks in Durban seven days later and was also marked absent for the four games that Andy Farrell’s men played across last month’s Autumn Nations Series.

He has also watched on as Leinster have won their opening seven games in this season’s URC, but even though he is reluctant to put an exact timeframe on his return to full fitness, Sheehan is hopeful of being back and available for selection in the early stages of 2025.

“I’d love to get a good chunk of the season, see how we go. I’ve been conscious not to put a timeframe on it, because then it would be tempting to rush back. It’s very much a week-to-week thing. Hopefully into the new year. It might take a month or two, but that’s what I’m sort of aiming at,” Sheehan said at a Just Eat & Leinster Rugby partnership extension announcement today.

“Just for the mind, I don’t want to put an exact date on it because then I’d be rushing. In terms of the knee, it’s coming along very nicely. Emma Galvin, my physio, has worked her ass off to get me to a good spot.

“I haven’t had one setback yet, so hopefully in the New Year I can get kicking. I don’t want to rush it at the same time.”

Sheehan has amassed 91 appearances for either province or country since making his Leinster senior debut against Zebre on 23 October, 2020. So being ruled out of action for a longer period wasn’t something he had experienced in the professional game.

He admitted the initial stages of his rehabilitation proved testing as a result, but the former Clongowes Wood College student has been maintaining a positive outlook on his road to recovery.

“First long-term [injury]. I’ve had surgeries, the ankle and face, but they’re all six weekers, or eight weeks max. This is the first time that we’ve been talking months. I suppose it’s part of the game today,” he said.

“Obviously, it was pretty tough. The first couple of weeks trying to get it into your mind that you’d be out for a long time. It hasn’t been as tolling on the mind as I thought it might be. I was able to get over the first hurdle of getting the surgery and getting into the right mindset early on. Seeing it as a time to reflect.

“I’ve been flat out since I made my debut for Leinster three or four years ago. It’s nice to have a period of time to reflect back, analyse the last couple of years. See areas you can improve on, and give the body a bit of a rest. It’s pretty tricky trying to do that week on week, when you don’t have the time to look back. In that sense it’s grand.”

Nonetheless, having made his Ireland senior bow in a November test against Japan back in 2021 – the same day Johnny Sexton picked up his 100th cap in the green jersey – Sheehan would naturally have felt the urge to be involved for the visits to the Aviva by New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia in the past few weeks.

Yet while he again acknowledges that it wasn’t easy to be outside of the camp for these fixtures, an intense focus on his rehabilitation programme helped to keep Sheehan’s mind occupied.

“What helped me at the start was, because it was straight into the holidays and pre-season, I didn’t feel like I was missing everything. I could get ahead of the curve and get straight into rehab. By the time everyone was back playing games again I was two months in and going well,” Sheehan added.

“The last couple of weeks have been tough, when lads are playing big Leinster games. Big Interpros in Croker [against Munster] and the last four international games are tough. You’re not feeling the nerves on an international week, which is just bizarre at this point. Because for the last three years it’s been every time there’s been an international game you get those nerves.

“You’re in a hotel preparing for battle and I was on the couch watching the game, or just going down to watch it with a few of the lads. In that sense it’s been tricky, but I’ve been kept busy with rehab. Just ticking away and throwing my hand at a few things. Helping out lads I see every day in Leinster and keeping the mind busy, which is the main thing.”

Daire Walsh