Barry O’Hagan has been sidelined since suffering an ACL injury against Armagh in the 2024 Ulster Championship having previously undergone a triple reconstruction of knee ligaments in 2023
Clonduff manager Gearoid Adams is hopeful that Barry O’Hagan could be fit to play some part in the Down SFC should his side overcome Downpatrick this weekend.
The Yellas lost out to defending champions Kilcoo at Páirc Esler on Monday night and now take on RGU in round three for a place in the quarter-finals.
O’Hagan was listed as number 28 on the teamsheet for Monday night’s clash with the Magpies, but didn’t feature.
Adams stressed that Sunday’s tie with Downpatrick would come too soon for the Down star and they aren’t prepared to take any risks given the injury nightmare O’Hagan has gone through in recent years.
He underwent a triple reconstruction of knee ligaments in 2023 and made his comeback in the Division Three League loss to Westmeath in 2024.
However, he suffered an AFL injury during last season’s Ulster SFC semi-final loss to Armagh in Clones and didn’t feature for the Mournemen in 2025.
“We’re just monitoring Barry O’Hagan at the minute,” stated Adams.
“He’s back into training the last week or so for the first time. Obviously, what’s happened to him, we have to be really careful with him. He’s not ready just yet.
“But hopefully, if you win your next match, he may take part in the quarter or the semi-final. But again, we’ve got Downpatrick to look at first.”
“It’s obviously great to get a few minutes with Stephen McConville tonight as well.
“We lost Packie O’Hagan during the week. He’s our centre-half forward. You’ve got Stephen coming in.
“Every team has their issues, but it’s good to have Stephen back as well. Definitely. It would be great to have Barry in, but we’ll be patient with that one.”
With the round robin system in place in Down, there’s a chance of teams facing each other twice in the one season.
Adams bemoaned his side’s wastefulness in front of goal against Kilcoo and also felt that some of his full-forward line struggled to win frees.
“We have this conversation on a match-day basis. And being honest, I’m not going to start going on about referees,” said Adams.
“Because Arthur (McConville) and Senan (Carr) and Eamon (Brown) are big, they never get the free.
“And I could show you videos from games going by. But listen, we made our own mistakes there. So, we can complain about the referee, but we weren’t perfect ourselves.
“I think if you watch the video back, there were chances there when we were on the up to take.
“We could have been down there, even down a point. We could have been down three or four points up ourselves if we’d taken our chances. Basically, you have to be ruthless with them.
“When you get those chances, you have to take them. They brought on Shealan (Johnston). They brought on Anthony Morgan.
“Two action footballers who’d start on most teams. They have a big bench too. We’ve got down Downpatrick in the next round.
“We’re not looking any further than that. That’s a tough game. And they’re only after, obviously, coming from a win. We’ll see what happens in the future.”
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