Declan Hannon says he’s “hopeful” of playing in the All-Ireland final, should Limerick get there once again.
The captain has been ruled out of the semi-final on July 8 against as yet undetermined opponents with a knee injury that saw him limp out of the recent Munster final win over Clare and though he wasn’t specific about the prognosis, he described it as “a small bang”, with the dreaded cruciate ruled out at least.
He said: “I suppose I wasn't surprised when I went for a scan and it came back that I'd be out for a few weeks. That was another side to it. You'd know yourself if a scan is going to come back clear or not, so that probably eased the pain as well.
"There's not really a timeline. I just got a bit of a nick on my knee so it just depends on how it recovers now in the next few weeks. I'm just taking it day-by-day now, trying to get the rehab going and trying to get back on the pitch as soon as possible.
“A small bang, it was. It will just take a bit of time. I suppose the semi-final will just come a bit too soon.”
As for his prospects of playing in the All-Ireland final on July 23, should Limerick get there, Hannon said: "Ah sure, you'd always be hopeful. But we obviously have a massive game coming in the semi-final.
“That's where our full focus is and that's my focus at the minute as well - helping out the lads as much as I can in the lead-up to that."
Hannon’s setback is the latest in a long line of injuries to key players that Limerick have suffered over the past few seasons, though ultimately they haven’t lost a knockout Championship game in almost four years.
“We've had a couple of lads who suffered long-term injuries,” Hannon acknowledged.
“We had it this year with Seánie [Finn], obviously Cian [Lynch] last year and Mike Casey, Peter Casey and Richie English over the last number of years too.
“They were in, not a similar boat, but they suffered injuries that put them on the sidelines for a long time. The way they reacted, I'd look back on that and they were always so positive.
“It's fine. It is what it is. It's part of the game. I've been lucky enough so far in my career that I've never had any major injury really, so it's fine. We're all ok in Limerick, so we are.”
