Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Keenan returned to action in Leinster's URC defeat by Glasgow last month
ByDavid MohanBBC Sport NI journalist- Published47 minutes ago
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With a British and Irish Lions' tour victory over Australia in his grasp, Hugo Keenan spotted the gap and darted over the line in Melbourne to ensure the series was wrapped up with a game to spare.
Sure, there was a defeat in the final game to conclude the series as the Wallabies salvaged pride in the Sydney rain, but after a long and challenging season, Keenan's thoughts turned to addressing a hip problem that had plagued him for upwards of 18 months.
Sitting out the first half of the new club season and missing out on Ireland's November internationals was not ideal, but needs must and a return in January seemed on track when misfortune would strike.
On a pre-Six Nations training camp with Ireland in Portugal, Keenan suffered a fractured thumb which would sideline him for the entire tournament, pushing back his return that finally came in Leinster's 38-17 defeat by Glasgow in the URC on 21 March.
The full-back did cross for a try in that game, but with Edinburgh the visitors to Dublin's Aviva Stadium in the last 16 of the European Champions Cup on Sunday [17:30 BST], he admits "it only feels like my season's getting going now".
"With the hip, it was nearly pre-planned. I knew it was coming; it was a time to get right and a good time post-Lions when there's naturally a bigger break," Keenan said at Leinster's news conference this week.
"It was tough being out of November [internationals] but I accepted it and that was manageable when the thumb injury came about, I'd been declared fit and was starting to feel sharp.
"I'd just missed out on playing a game with Leinster and then for it to come about in the first training session in a backs unit with limited contact after five and a half months [out], it was really frustrating, but these things happen.
"It's given me a chance to get fully right, get even fitter, get the rest of the body feeling good. It's been a long couple of weeks but I'm raring to go now."
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Keenan scored the winning try in the second British and Irish Lions' Test against Australia that sealed the series win
Missing out on a Six Nations Triple Crown was disappointing, but as "an Irish supporter", Keenan was more than happy to toast their success.
Mack Hansen had deputised in the number 15 jersey during the autumn internationals, but with the Connacht star also out of the Six Nations, it was Kennan's Leinster team-mate Jamie Osborne who shifted to full-back and made a vital impact.
"I was gunning for Jamie [Osborne], for Tommy [O'Brien], for Rob Baloucoune - the whole back three - because it's definitely a positive when everybody's playing well and when there's competition in the group," Keenan said.
"It was more difficult not being involved, not being out there myself. I want to be in that jersey but seeing him was great. He's a good friend of mine, a bit like Mack Hanson in November, coming in and playing well.
"Mack was brilliant to me on the Lions tour, and then me and Jamie were rehabbing together through December and start of January.
"We both were hoping to be in that 15 jersey or in that back three together and then my misfortune is his luck and that's the way it goes."
'We have more in us at Leinster this season'
Despite his losing return at Scotstoun last month, Keenan felt it was "a really enjoyable experience" to be back out on the pitch.
Naturally, it is taking a little time to get fully back up to speed, but the same can be said for Leinster who have had "a bit of an up and down season".
Three defeats in their opening four URC games was not ideal, and while there is a sense they are yet to fully catch fire this season, they are still preparing for a knock-out game in the Champions Cup this week and fourth in the URC, nine points off leaders Glasgow but coming off a bonus-point win over Scarlets at the weekend.
"We definitely know we've got a lot more in us," Keenan offers.
"It's been a little bit stop-start and being outside of Irish camp, my eyes have been open to what it's like back in Leinster when you're here, when half the group are away [on international duty] and the challenge is there.
"I think it shows that we're back on the right direction at the weekend against Scarlets and hopefully now we can start building on it because you don't get a second chance at this stage of the season.
"We're into knockout rugby and we can't really afford those sloppy performances so it's on us as a player group to drive that and drive the messages the coaching group are giving us and to take a lead now into the next couple of months."
