Seán Meehan aims to put injury nightmare behind him with Kiskeam

Last season was very tough for Séan Meehan as he could only look on from the sidelines as Kiskeam played in the SAFC.

The defender suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Cork in May of last year, ruling him out for the remainder of the year. In fact, he didn’t return to the field until January when he came on for the Rebels after 58 minutes against Clare in the McGrath Cup. Kiskeam means the world to Meehan and not being able to help was difficult for him. The Duhallow outfit won one and lost two games in the group as they failed to qualify for the knockout stages.

“Kiskeam is a very special place and it’s a place where I am really proud to be from,” he says.

“From my side, Kiskeam is where I grew up, it’s where my family and friends are, it’s a very small place, 500 people, a very tight-knit community and people back each other during hard times and good times. It has been a tough few years for me personally with injuries and the people of Kiskeam really rallied around me. I tore my hamstring off the bone in 2022 in a Cork league match against Galway. I went over to London for the operation and thankfully I made it back to play championship for Kiskeam that year.

“But then last year, I was still battling back from the injury as it was a massive one, and I did the same injury on the other leg against Louth in the championship. It happened in the first 20 minutes of the game, it was a very tough time. It’s difficult to battle back again and to get your form and everything else back, but I have been lucky that I have had great people around me. I have had massive support from the Cork County Board, physios Brian O’Connell and Clíona O’Riordan and doctor Aidan Kelleher.

“John Cleary [Cork manager] has massively helped me. He even organised my lift from the airport coming back from London and just being there to support me as well. I have had nothing but the best of care and the best of support so I couldn’t be more thankful to all those people.” 

Kiskeam weren’t too far away last year, losing a couple of tight games and it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed that if Meehan was in the team, he could have been the difference. He's back now though. 

“It’s a very helpless situation being there on the line looking at your club playing,” the 25-year-old said, who made his debut for Kiskeam’s first team against Avondhu in 2017.

“You want to help them so much. Things didn’t go right for us last year but look I am delighted to be back playing for Kiskeam this year and to be able to help and contribute. We lost the first day to Cill na Martra a few weeks ago but I was over the moon to be on the field with all my friends and to be with lads that I grew up watching playing as well. It’s a massive honour to represent my club and I’ll never underestimate that ever because it’s where you start and where you finish.” 

It hasn’t been a great year to date for Kiskeam, relegated from the Division 2 football league after losing eight out of nine games, but did win the final league match against Clyda Rovers. The team in black and white don’t need reminding that they haven’t finished in the top two since the championship group format was brought in back in 2020. 

They won’t be fancied either this year especially after the 1-18 to 0-9 defeat to a strong Cill na Martra side. But, they love a challenge in Kiskeam and love defying the odds as they proved when they won the PIFC title in 2016.

“I got to as many Kiskeam league games as I could this year and there were positive signs, some very good performances but just didn’t come out the right side,” the primary school teacher in Ovens says.

“I know from working in the Éire Óg parish and chatting to lads there, they have had injuries as you know yourself so every club struggles with them. We can’t hide away from the fact that we got relegated from the league and we had a poor result in the championship against Cill na Martra. What we can do is keep going. We have a good group of players. You can’t just give up per say. The mood is still quite good.” 

The tests don’t get any easier for Kiskeam, title favourites Carrigaline are next in what is the second group game on Sunday in Mallow at 4pm.

“Carrigaline beat Nemo in the Division 1 football league final this year and Nemo had all their players back. They beat Ballingeary by eight points the last day. There’s 500 people in Kiskeam, there’s over 20,000 in Carrigaline. We are up against it for sure. They are favourites for the county. We pride ourselves in being a small place and that’s something we use to drive us on.

“We back each other and are all close and that’s probably a strength that we have. We will give it everything like we always do.”