Monaghan boss Malachy O’Rourke says midfielder Niall Kearns is “mad keen to get back” to action with the Farney men after undergoing heart surgery at the end of last year.

O’Rourke’s charges take on Cavan in a crunch Division 1 relegation encounter on Saturday afternoon and while the Clones clash will come too soon for Kearns, O’Rourke has indicated that the 21-year-old back is on course to be back at full strength for his county.

“We would be having on-going dialogue with him and the medical people as well. He's coming on great and he's mad keen to get back, but there's a certain timeline that we have to follow,” he told The Irish News.

“As I said from the start, the most important thing is that he's healthy and able to live his life in the best way possibly, and hopefully that will include getting back to full strength on the football field and that's certainly the way it's looking at the minute.

“We'll support him in whatever way we can and when he's ready to come back we'll be only too happy to have him.”

Follow the hoganstand.com match tracker this weekend for live coverage of the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues, as well as the All-Ireland club senior finals at Croke Park.

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