‘I couldn’t wait to play’ - Henson returns as Marist triumph
By Kevin Egan
It took less than 60 seconds for the ball to find its way to Andrew Henson in last week’s Connacht Schools Senior Cup final.
Every supporter in the Dexcom Stadium knew that what they were about to see would have a huge bearing on this year’s final, as the Marist College were going to be a completely different proposition with their international full-back operating at full speed. But after a long injury layoff, rubber was about to meet road.
Not for a second did the Marist captain consider easing his way into the game. It was full throttle, exploding through midfield to make 20 metres, with two tacklers needed to bring him down to ground.
As he said himself afterwards, he was like a coiled spring and there was no question of doing anything other than throwing himself into this final at full speed.
“I needed the six, seven or eight weeks off. I tore my hamstring unfortunately, playing with Buccaneers U-20s, and something like that just needs time,” he told the Westmeath Independent afterwards.
“But no, I was fully tuned, fully ready to go into this game. I couldn't wait to play, the timeline was just made for me, it was ideal.
“When you're off the pitch so long, you're just chomping on the bit to get back. I just couldn't wait to get back out there and be back playing with the lads. Doing the thing you love most is just a great feeling. I was just delighted to lift that cup with the boys today, it was a great win and it means so much to everyone in there that has worked so hard for it,” continued the Buccaneers RFC player.
His injury-enforced absence did come at a cost to his school. Marist were able to safely negotiate their way through to this final without him, although he was listed as a replacement for their semi-final win over Roscommon CBS in case he was needed.
On the Gaelic football field, however, it was a different story. He togged out against Ardee Community School in their Leinster semi-final but it didn’t work out as he was forced off through injury. And then he had to watch on from the sidelines when the Marist lost out to Coláiste Mhuire, the eventual Hogan Cup champions, in the Leinster final.
“It was all very frustrating, of course you want to be out there with your team and trying to do whatever you can to help them, and that’s the thing with being in your Leaving Cert year, you know these are things you won’t get to do again,” Henson said.
“We were beaten by Sligo Grammar in the league final as well and that was very frustrating too for all of us, you feel like you need to be pushing on to make that right. But we bottled the emotion up and used it in the right way, we really played today like we wanted to win,” added the Moydrum native, who has also excelled in football for Garrycastle and Westmeath at underage level.
*See this week's print edition for match report and more photos.