| Shiels bids for swift return after
eye operation With Richard Purden
 Northern Irish Hibs
striker Dean Shiels is recovering from having an operation to remove his
right eye. The player has been blind in the eye since the age of seven
but, against the odds, carved out a successful football career, keeping
the blindness a secret until it started to cause him severe pain towards
the end of last year.
The 21-year-old opened up to the club in December and is desperate to
make his Hibs return before the end of the season. The ex-Arsenal wonder
played some stunning football for a rejuvenated Hibs side last season,
but problems with the eye began to affect his game. Sheils was a vital
goalscorer for Hibs, an intelligent and bright reader of the game with
an inspired first touch. He’ll have an implant in the eye socket
next month and should be back with the emerald greens before the season
ends.
Meanwhile, at Celtic, Shaun Maloney is having a great season. Having
recovered from injury to become a first- team regular, the 23-year-old
is looking a hot prospect for SPL Player of the Year. Under
Strachan his confidence and ability has developed rapidly after a year
on the sidelines. It had looked at one stage like he would be moving on
earlier in the season.
He said: “It was only this season when I started to play regularly
that I probably had a bit more respect for the players who have played
every
Wednesday and Saturday and coped with that pressure for the past four
or five years.
“To play as much as I have has meant a lot. At the start of the
season a lot of players in my position joined and it was uncertain. To
break into the team has been a massive hurdle for me to overcome.
“This was a massive season for me. If it didn’t happen for
me this year then you don’t know what would’ve happened, but
I was always confident it would do.”
Similar to McGeady, manager Gordon Strachan has been essential in bringing
his career back from the dead.
“The manager had shown a fair bit of faith in me at the start and
kept me there but I know if don’t play well then I’ll be out.
We have three months to go so I still need to improve to keep my place.”
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