Westmeath's top marksman tells Ian O'Riordan why it feels great to be back in the thick of things

It's okay to joke about it now, how Dessie Dolan awoke after a tricky operation to find a three-inch scar across his groin - without the slightest idea of what had gone on while he was under the knife. One of his vital organs could have been on ice and headed for the black market, and Dolan couldn't have cared less. All he knew was the scar meant he could play football again, and the only question was how soon.

Westmeath's most prolific forward was about to miss the rest of the season having been diagnosed with Gilmore's groin, also (misleadingly) called sportsman's hernia. It's not actually a hernia, but a tearing of the adductor muscles, usually near the attachment to the pubic bone. It makes even a jog painful and kicking a ball impossible.

Dolan sustained the injury in April in the Division Two semi-final against Donegal. After several weeks of treatment an operation became inevitable, and he turned to one of the best surgeons in the business, Gerry McEntee. The problem was he faced a 12-week lay-off, in effect a summer without football.

"Things were going quite well for me during the league," says Dolan, "and I was looking forward to the championship. I just kicked the ball funny against Donegal, and a while after that realised there was no point trying to continue. I had to go with the operation.

"But the truth is I still don't know exactly what was involved . . . Gerry McEntee just told me there was no way I should be playing football the way it was, and just get the operation done.

"People are still asking me exactly what it is I had done, and all I can tell them is I don't know, and that it's still a bit sore."

With the operation out of the way Dolan embarked on a major rehabilitation programme, which became a race against time.

"I set the ambitious target of getting back in six weeks, and thankfully I met that. It was very hard to get back, and I worked very hard on it. I'm lucky that I'm a teacher because that gave me the time to do the work over the past few weeks, as I wasn't working. So everything was concentrated on getting back.

"One of the people I have to thank is Jason Cowman, who actually works with the Leinster rugby team, and is excellent on rehabilitation work. I was supervising exams in Dublin at the time and did a lot of work with him around then."

In Dolan's absence Westmeath were having a hard time of it. They fell heavily to Offaly in the first round of the Leinster championship - clearly missing his reliable free-taking. Luck was on their side when they drew London in the qualifiers, and then a struggling Limerick.

Dolan was back on board just in time for that game, and after hitting 0-5 of Westmeath's 0-13, he is now looking forward to their third-round qualifier against Sligo in Markievicz Park on Saturday.

"I'm still only 80 or 85 per cent," he admits, "but at least I'm on the pitch, and I'll certainly be giving it socks on Saturday. And we'd love to do well here. Do that and we're one shot away from an All-Ireland quarter-final.

"I don't think any team is really shining in this championship, and if Westmeath get their act together you just don't know.

"Since 2004 we've lost a lot of players, and it's been hard to make that up. But we have some young lads coming through, the likes of John Connellan, only 17, and he's a great talent."

Dolan reckons free-taking off the ground contributed to his injury, though that won't hold him back on Saturday. He's also been consulting with his famous father and namesake, who managed the Leitrim team that narrowly fell to Sligo in the round-two qualifier on Sunday.

"We know Sligo are very dogged, bring a lot of players back, and will definitely make it tough on us. We can't be too confident. We've had some good games this year, but some very dodgy ones as well, so we'll just have to see how this one goes."