Dermot Earley returned to training with the Kildare senior footballers on Tuesday night and he was delighted with how he coped after over 18 months on the sidelines.
Earley has not played for Kildare since his cruciate knee ligament gave way in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Meath in August 2010. He was approaching full fitness last year when he was struck down by the same injury and he has spent the last few months slowly nursing himself through rehabilitation work.
He is reluctant to rush his return but he was delighted to come through his first training session with the Lilywhites and is looking forward to building his confidence back up.
"I was absolutely delighted leaving Newbridge the other night. I know I've done the work in the gym and doing the rehab," Earley said.
"It's about getting the confidence back and it felt good last night and I'll need a lot more of that because realistically it's my first bit of football in a year-and-a-half."
Earley took part in 80 per cent of the training session but admits there were times when he did not give as much as he could have for fear of injuring his knee again.
"There were a couple of times when I didn't stretch because I wasn't confident in it," Earley went on.
"The main thing is you don't rush it either because it's amazing how much you come on in a month.
"When I look at where I was at the start of December to where I was at the start of January to the start of February it's just amazing but I just don't want to rush it."