Tony Kelly says his rehab following ankle surgery is going well. The three-time All-Star underwent an operation after the quarter-final of the Clare Senior Hurling Championship last October.
"I've about 17 weeks done at the minute so just back in, I've a good block of running done, so I'll be back in hurling this week," he said at the launch of a new Irish protein brand called In the Zone.
"It's all going to plan so far. I just have to ramp up the hurling, shake off the rustiness, and hopefully I'll be back on the field pretty soon. If I can get in a couple of League games that's the plan."
Kelly said the surgery involved "reconstruction on the outside and inside of the ankle."
14 February 2022; An exciting new Irish protein cookies brand will hit shelves this month, endorsed by the GAA and GPA. In attendance at the GAA & GPA Launch event at Croke Park were, from left, Sarah Dervan of Galway, Padraig Hampsey of Tyrone, Tony Kelly of Clare and Erika O'Shea of Cork. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"It happened in the winter championship of 2020," he added.
"I rehabbed it then that winter and it wasn't too bad. And then mainly after last year's inter-county championship it came back at me playing with the club and I kind of got to the stage where I couldn't train.
"Yeah, couldn't really train, playing bits of matches here and there, and then I just didn't want to do much more damage in terms of the injury so decided to get the surgery done and clean it up.
Tony Kelly nearing Clare return
"The inside had to be completely repaired. The ligament was just gone on the inside of my ankle. On the outside then it was tore but they could repair it.
"It feels fine, it feels strong, I've a good block of rehab done with it. I'm hoping that'll be the end of it and the ankle will see me out now.
"I'm hoping that I might actually have a bit more flexibility with it. So, yeah, they've told me that once the rehab goes to plan you should be back to full strength and back to normal so from that standpoint it's going well."
The injury forced Kelly to miss Ballyea's victory over Inagh-Kilnamona in the Clare hurling final.
"Not too bad looking back when you have it won, it would have been worse obviously if we'd been beaten," he said.
"A tough call to make at any stage but it was just something that had to be done, you couldn't really avoid it."
Tony Kelly going through a rehab routine in Cusack Park in the rain ahead of todays game v Wexford. #GAA pic.twitter.com/Zzm30PwnUn
— Clare FM (@ClareFM) February 13, 2022
East Coast Bakehouse have announced the launch of a new Irish Protein brand called In the Zone, created in partnership with the GAA and GPA as The Official Players Choice.
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