AFTER RETURNING from a lengthy injury lay-off in fine style at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, Dan Sheehan has said he wouldn’t hesitate to be involved in a Six Nations opener against England in the same venue this weekend.

When he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament in the first Test of Ireland’s summer tour of South Africa on 6 July of last year, there were doubts over the 26-year-old hooker’s availability for the upcoming Championship. Yet 10 days after being named in Simon Easterby’s 36-man squad for the tournament, he returned to competitive fare in Leinster’s bonus point triumph over the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship.

Eager to make an impression before jetting off to Portugal on Sunday to join up with the Ireland squad at their pre-Six Nations training base in Quinta do Lago, Sheehan bagged a brace of tries during his 63 minutes on the pitch at Irish Rugby HQ.

“It’s probably a step up [to play in the Six Nations], but there’s no hesitation at all really on the knee. I’ll get over tomorrow [Sunday] and hopefully crack into another week’s prep for a match and see how we go,” Sheehan remarked after being named player of the match against the Stormers.

“There would be absolutely no hesitation from my end, to play or to be involved in any way. It depends on what the team wants and the backroom staff. I’m not sure, I haven’t really been speaking to anyone in the IRFU.

“I just focused on getting back this week and just kept the mind simple. I suppose we’ll find out during the week.”

Considering it can often take eight or nine months for athletes to return to action following an ACL injury, Sheehan has done extremely well to get himself back in the saddle a little over six months after that aforementioned duel with South Africa.

Yet the former Clongowes Wood College student insisted he wasn’t necessarily planning for a return ahead of schedule and was willing to push back his recovery if it made sense from a medical perspective.

“I don’t think we missed a marker really, there were no real setbacks. It played ball with us, to be honest. Sometimes those things can go tricky and you have to set it back, but I was also very sure in my head that I wouldn’t rush it,” Sheehan added.

“If there was anything that I was hesitant about we could push it back, obviously hoping that it’ll be a big year. I wanted to play last week [against Bath], I was itching to go. I was sick of watching everyone else play and wanted that nervous feeling of getting back on a pitch. Delighted with how it went.”

While he did welcome Sheehan and James Lowe back from their respective lay-offs — Lowe had been troubled by a calf problem in recent weeks — Leinster head coach Leo Cullen had some fresh injury concerns arising from Saturday’s game.

Not long after outside centre Liam Turner had been withdrawn because of an ankle issue, Luke McGrath was stretchered off in a neck brace after receiving a heavy knock to the head that required lengthy treatment on the pitch. He was replaced just before half-time by Cormac Foley, who was also forced off with a late injury.

Although Leinster do not have another competitive fixture until their visit to the Ospreys in the URC on 14 February, there were some worries over the immediate wellbeing of McGrath. In addition to revealing he was wearing a brace as a precautionary measure, Cullen revealed the veteran scrum-half was in good spirits in the minutes that followed their 10th successive league win of the current season.

“Lukey is okay there. When you see a guy being carted off you start to get a bit worried alright, but I was chatting away to him. We were chatting about the lead-in and all the rest of the game, so he is pretty with it,” Cullen said.

“Cormac is similar, he’s okay as well. Liam is obviously just back from that ankle [injury] that he’s had done, so he’s got a bit of a jam there. I’m not sure of the extent of that. We’ll see. Obviously no game next week. Hopefully not too bad overall.”

Daire Walsh