Paddy McWalter endured an injury nightmare after breaking a knee-cap against Carlow in 2010 but he's back to his best form now and relishing the prospect of facing Meath in Aughrim on Saturday evening.

The St Patrick's clubman missed three championship seasons because of the injury but, lining out at centre-back, he was one of the stars of the Garden County's opening round win over Longford.

"When an injury takes that long and keeps breaking down on you … I just had to keep going with it," he recalled when speaking to the Irish Daily Star.

"It would (get you down) and you'd say, 'what's the point'. Anyone I'd seen had said, 'you will get back.' It was just the frustration and maybe I was trying to rush it and you learn just to do it properly.

"It took me a lot of time to get back to the pace of inter-county football so you do feel it in the legs a little bit.

"I got back for the club last year, played all of last year, so I'm back well over a year, and it's behind me, but it took me pretty much two years.

"I'd a lot of setbacks and things and it was a nasty enough injury. I was struggling. I was a little bit off the pace in the League and you wonder. The ground dries out a little bit and it gets a bit easier."

Meath dumped Wicklow out of last year's Leinster SFC and McWalter admits that they are favourites to progress to a last four clash with Wexford this weekend.

"A lot of people were tipping us to win because they had a poor League campaign but this year they've had a much better one and they beat us in Aughrim.

"They will be favourites, but it is just a great game for us.

"Aughrim doesn't take a whole lot to fill it, so Aughrim will be packed that night and we'll just try to put in a big performance." Tweet

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