2008-09 Season Player
Quotes:
Aug
10th 2008 Ryan
O'Leary will visit a specialist on Monday after picking up a
shoulder injury during Saturday's 1-0 victory over Hibernian.
Manager Jim Jefferies told BBC
Sport that it was too early to tell whether O'Leary would be fit to
face St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday.
Aug 22nd 2008
Ryan O'Leary will miss most of the
season after tests revealed he needs surgery on his injured
shoulder. The 20-year-old dislocated his shoulder in a collision
with former team-mate Colin Nish during Killie's Clydesdale Bank
Premier League win over Hibernian on August 9. The Scotland Under-21
player suffered a similar injury once before and a visit to a
specialist heralded bad news. "He will be out for six to seven
months," Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies said."The surgeon reckons he
will have to perform open surgery as opposed to the keyhole
procedure Ryan had before. "Ryan will do well to return before the
end of the season. "He is young enough to come back but this is
extremely unfortunate"
Feb 22nd 2009
Ryan O'Leary has missed seven months of the season with an injury he
picked up seven YEARS ago.
The young defender dislocated his
shoulder on the first day of this campaign after a challenge with
Hibs striker Colin Nish and hasn't featured for the first team
since.
The 21-year-old suffered the same
injury two seasons ago but key-hole surgery failed to cure the
problem. O'Leary admits he first knocked his shoulder out as a
14-year-old. And the fit-again star is praying a second op has
cleared up his age-old agony for good. O'Leary, who could make his
comeback on Saturday against Aberdeen, said: "I had my first
operation two years before the latest injury and it put me out for
three months.
"I thought it was sorted but it
just didn't feel right - I could still feel something. I went up in
a challenge with Colin against Hibs in the first game this season
and tried to hold him off with my left arm. With minimum pressure
the shoulder came out again and that showed how weak it was. So I
had to get a more detailed operation second time around. They had to
cut right down my shoulder. Thinking back I was always wary if
someone came on to my left side during a game. If I was marking I'd
try to put them over to my right arm. I thought it was natural to
feel little twinges after an operation. You never expect it to come
back out. But I've only just found out there's a 98-per-cent chance
it can happen again after keyhole surgery. That sounds bizarre. Why
not just do it properly in the first place? But hopefully the
problem is totally fixed now. To test it out you need to fall or
have someone give you a good bang on it. I've had a few of them
since I started back training and it has felt solid.
O'Leary has been bothered by the shoulder problem since his days as
a YTS kid at Aberdeen. But failing to get it checked out early on
has curtailed the former Scotland Under-21 star's career. O'Leary is
one of the country's brightest prospects and now wants to show boss
Jim Jefferies he's ready to shine after coming through a reserve
game last week.
He said: "I first did the shoulder
when I was playing football at school. I just landed on it and it
came out. Then I was staying in digs at Aberdeen and woke up at
3amto find my shoulder had come out while I was sleeping. But I
played on with it and felt I was beginning to show my best form
early last season.I broke my nose which hampered me for six weeks
then started getting silly injuries. That seems to have been
the story for me so far - doing really well then picking up knocks.
Now I just need to work hard to get back in the gaffer's plans."
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