DAVID Lavery had number 34 on his back when he trotted on to the field to help his club Maghery get over the line against Crossmaglen last Sunday.
In their first game of the season, players on both sides looked a little rusty and that, and the lack of atmosphere in the empty ground, gave the game a challenge-match feel to it but just getting out there again meant the world to Lavery who’d spent a year on the sidelines coming through a genuine injury nightmare.
“It’s been a hard time,” admitted the versatile younger brother of former Armagh midfielder James who can play anywhere from half-back to half-forward.
“It was hard coming down to the field on the crutches and sitting watching the boys training and playing games so I just had to get the head down and get back at it and there’s no better way to come back than beating Cross.”
Lavery was left with a broken ankle and a broken leg after he’d been (at best) reckless challenged in a game against Killeavy in July last year. He took a pass from brother James and ghosted past his marker but was crudely brought down and, as he lay there in agony and his incensed team-mates reacted angrily, the club’s anxious physio sprinted onto the field.
The career-threatening injuries he’d sustained were far beyond a physio’s power to heal and Lavery has had to devote long hours since in a pursuit of fitness since.
“I needed an operation on the ankle because it wasn’t stable basically,” he explained.
“I broke my leg as well but the big issue (in terms of playing again) was the ankle. So I had a lot of work to get it right, I was laid-up for three-and-a-half months in a cast, in a boot for another three months, three months of being careful and then proper rehab after that. It’s been a long lay-off.
“I’m going to be sore for a while now. My body still doesn’t know what’s hitting it but Finn (Maghery manager Finnian Moriarty) has put a lot of trust in me and he is getting the best out of me. I have to thank him a lot to be honest.”
Lavery, who skippered St Patrick's Dungannon to the MacRory Cup in 2009, played alongside Moriarty after Paddy O’Rourke called him into the Armagh panel in 2012. The Orchardmen played their League football in Division One that season but were relegated despite beating Kerry in Tralee and O’Rourke’s native Down at the Athletic Grounds.
Lavery decided to take a step back from the county scene after that season.
“I thought it was the right idea at the time,” he says with a hint of regret.
Maybe he’ll return? But first and foremost is Maghery and his clear objective is regaining full match fitness and propelling the Sean McDermott’s outfit back towards the county title he helped to deliver, for the first time in the club’s history, in 2016.
Lavery missed the club’s pre-season friendlies and admitted he’d come through “a wee niggle” which had threatened to postpone his return to action on Sunday.
“I was in doubt for today,” he explained, after Maghery’s one-point win on opening weekend.
“But I told Finn: ‘Put me on’ and it’s all about getting back flying again like I should be. I have a wee bit to go but the boys will get me there. All I need is minutes, there’s nothing better than football to get you going again.”
After two more league games, Maghery will face Dromintee in the first round of the Armagh senior championship on August 8. That will be a tough test but the objective for the loughshore men is clear: they want another crack at defending champions Cross, the side that beat them in last year’s semi-final.
“There’s no better way to come back than a game against Cross but it didn’t matter who we were playing today,” said Lavery who will captain his club this season.
“It would have been the same objectives for us – get playing again and get ready for the championship.
“We beat Cross today but we’re going to be two different teams come championship time. They have players to come back in and we do as well. We’ve set our sights on meeting them again in the championship.”
