Keith Cowan has vowed to ‘do whatever I can’ to get back into action with Finn Harps this season.
In October, Cowan suffered a horrific knee injury in a game against St Patrick’s Athletic.
After falling awkwardly in a challenge with Jamie McGrath, Cowan knew immediately it wasn’t good – but he didn’t expect the damage to have been as severe.
Those at Finn Park that night can still remember his howls of agony as he lay on the turf.
On top of snapping his knee cap, a follow-up scan confirmed that he’d suffered a torn cruciate ligament: It was the worst case scenario and a third time that Cowan endured a cruciate injury.
On Friday, Cowan goes under the knife in Ballykelly. Lesser men might’ve given up the hopes of playing senior football again – but not Cowan, who has battled back on the cruciate recovery road twice before.
“I have a date in the head, but I’m not telling people what that date is,” Cowan said on this week’s Donegal Sports Talk podcast.
“The only thing I have in my corner is that I have had the operation before and did the recovery. It’ll be a long slog.
“Everything going to plan, I should be there this season. I’ll do whatever I can.”
Harps began their new season on Friday night with a 1-0 loss to Cork City and Cowan says that pre-season has been torturous.
“It’s difficult just to sit there and count the reps,” he said.
“The boys were working towards the first game, but I was working towards a second operation.
“It’s been hard. I can do the gym sessions, but they’re lacing up the boots to go out for ball work and I’m back on the bike again.
“There were times were I wondered: ‘Is this worth it?’
“It would have been hard to let it go. I’ve played enough seasons to know that if I couldn’t, I wouldn’t.”
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO KEITH COWAN ON DONEGAL SPORTS TALK