Cork's Colm O'Neill has expressed his contentment at returning to the intercounty fold.

The Ballyclough clubman put his cruciate hell behind him in considerable style as he blasted 2-4 for the Rebels in Sunday's McGrath Cup semi-final win over Clare at Pairc Ui Rinn.

As comebacks go, it was pretty spectacular but O'Neill remained cautious when speaking to the Examiner afterwards:

"The first day out in 2012 and I'm definitely happy to be back. I've been waiting for the New Year and the start of the 2012 season for most of last year.

"I worked away very hard with the masseurs and the physios throughout 2011. There's big credit due to Colin Lane, he's been working with me for the last seven or eight months. Any time I wanted him to do work, he was there.

"It was very tough to take when it happened as it's been the same knee that it's happened to twice. I was trying my best for a long time to find out why that was.

"But the main thing I found out is that it seems to have been bad luck really. It could have happened to anyone. I suppose you have to play the cards that are thrown up in front of you. That's not to say it won't happen again, who knows really?"

"Coming back to playing, it's always in the back of your head about the knee. You're still only going to the ball maybe 90% or 95%. Hopefully playing a few games will knock that out of me.

"Sunday was the first time that I really tested it. I've had training sessions and games within training but that's nothing compared to what you go through when there's a competitive match. That's the real test. I'm just really glad to have 70 minutes of football under my belt now. The knee feels okay and I can focus for the year ahead." Tweet

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