IRISH LEAGUE: Deery ready to manage Grace right

Grace, who was in an induced coma for more than a week in the Royal Victoria Hospital after an incident in September, is back in training.

Deery will be organising friendlies so Grace can get game time under his belt, before he returns to competitive action.

“We have to manage him right, we’ll probably get him some minutes in terms of organising some friendlies or some sort of game, to get him a real feel for that 11 v 11 intense stuff,” he said.

“He was finding his feet a wee bit but now a couple of weeks in his training he is at a good competitive level, you can see he’s starting to shine a wee bit at training and stand out a wee bit.”

Deery knows it’s going to be a big moment in the 23-year-old’s recovery, the first time he puts that Institute jersey on.

“Look we take things for granted, especially at this time of year and we are just delighted how healthy he is and how well he’s doing, because it was a traumatic experience for everyone when it happened a few months back.

“I always try to keep it fresh in his mind by telling him ‘look where you are at now from where you came from’.

“Look everyone is delighted for him and we want him to get stronger and stronger.

“It has been a long road for him but it will be a worthy road whenever he gets to play.

“I know he’ll give us that wee boost in and around the changing room.

“He’ll also give us that wee added bite that we need now going into the second half of the season.”