Kilkenny's James Maher has not written off 2016 just yet.

The rising star broke a knee cap in a "freak accident" involving a JCB on the family farm in Freshford back in April but having recently dispensed with the crutches he's eager to get back out on the pitch with the seniors and U-21s.

Speaking to The Irish Independent, the St Lachtains clubman, who fired four points in the league win over Tipperary, recalled: "Basically my dad was driving a JCB and he hit one of the gates by accident and sent me flying up into the air and I came down and landed on the concrete and broke my kneecap.

"It was just a bit of a freak accident. It could have been a lot worse. If I'd landed on my head I obviously could have done more damage but it was very sore at the time.

"I said I'd go in and just get an X-ray and it turned out to be broken so I thought originally that, 'ah, it's only a broken bone, six to eight weeks at the most' and then finding out that it could be six or 12 months."

It was obviously a set-back to Maher's plans to impress Brian Cody...

"I was in for the first time last year and I found it fierce tough, the physicality, the fitness. I would consider myself a fit enough person but going in there was completely different.

"They all seem to be fitter and way stronger and have better touch and everything so it was a big step up and I had to get my act together pretty quickly.

"You're spending most of your time recovering for the next session and getting yourself ready because you know if you're not eating healthy or doing what you're not supposed to be doing, then you're going to fall way behind."

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