James O'Donoghue is optimistic that he will have fully recovered from shoulder surgery in time for the start of Kerry's Munster and All-Ireland defence.

The Footballer of the Year recently underwent an operation at the Santry Sports Clinic in Dublin to repair shoulder ligament damage. Before departing for Boston with the GAA/GPA All Stars yesterday, O'Donoghue revealed that he was troubled by the injury for most of the season and hardly trained.

Asked when his likely return to competitive action would be, the Legion clubman replied: "I don't know. Hopefully, late May or early June all going well. But it's never that simple."

As someone who has a history of shoulder problems (he had dislocated both shoulders), O'Donoghue knows the drill as far as rehab and recovery is concerned.

"Em, ACs and dislocations, yeah, basically. I don't know why. I have a gangly walk and my arms are all over the place, I'd say it just unsettles everything. So, since I was young, I kept dislocating my left one. But that's sorted now.

"They say it's routine enough at this stage. I had it done twice on my left, once on this side - I can nearly do it myself at this stage, I'd say. They say six months, and I was up with the surgeon last Monday - he said maybe we'll take a few weeks off that."

He added: "You know, the thing about a shoulder injury is it's a complete mental injury. Because no matter what you do, you're kind of looking around to see if you're going to get a crack off someone.

"Once you clear your head, the shoulder injury is fine - it's not really the most painful one."

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