It has been almost twelve months ago since Craig Morgan took the field. He played the full campaign for the Tipperary senior hurlers in the Munster championship alongside the late Dillon Quirke in the heart of the defence and the future looked promising for both of them.
Poor Dillon passed away a few months later with Craig by his side on the sod of Tom Semples field. Hearts were broken. The best friends are forever bound to the field.
A short while later that August, Craig Morgan limped off in the first-half of Kilruane MacDonaghs’ Tipperary SHC clash against Nenagh Eire Og. The knee was gone and his season was over.
Later on last year as the evenings were getting shorter still Kilruane won the county final, an emotional triumph. Craig was part of the club set up still there though not hurling on the field. Speaking this week at the newly named Dillon Quirke GAA Grounds in Clonoulty, the Tipp cornerback Craig said he is glad to be on the mend and likely to be back for the county championship:
"The knee is going very good. There have been no setbacks or anything so far. I'm on the last stretch of it now so looking forward to being back out on the field. The next month will tell an awful lot about how it is so I have to go back up to meet the surgeon the end of May and he'll have to give me the go ahead so I'm keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground for the minute and not getting too excited but everything seems to be going well."
Speaking at the Dillon Quirke Foundation Fundraiser launch in Clonoulty on Tuesday morning, the Kilruane MacDonaghs defender was wearing the newly made Dillon Quirke Foundation jersey with the Tipp colours. Craig said the work that has been done to keep Dillons memory alive is immense:
"I think the work Dan and Hazel are doing is unbelievable. To see the support here and the people that are coming is fantastic.
"We got these jerseys earlier on in the year for the Kilkenny game, for Dillons game and it is nice to see the jerseys around here (in Clonoulty) because they are special jerseys. It is one of my favourite jerseys after getting it.
While the latter games in the Munster championship will come too quick for the Dan Breen cup medalist to get back for, he is enjoying watching Tipp winning: "That was a huge win in Ennis against Clare. It is not easy to go down there and beat Clare in their own stadium.
"The championship is blown wide open with Clare after winning (against Limerick) and Cork winning last Sunday evening so it's exciting the way the Munster championship is and the way the Munster championship should be. Tipp are moving well and I'm looking forward to next weekend," he said as the summer begins to stretch ahead of all of us.
