Popular defender makes long-awaited comeback after Sheffield Wednesday injury in impressive display

The towering defender is no longer an Owl contractually, but the club are performing a duty of care with the 29-year-old as he works his way back to fitness following that horror knee injury that he sustained towards the end of last year.

Heneghan’s road back to fitness has been a long one, but as he ran out on the field at Hillsborough for the U21s on Friday afternoon there will have been a huge sense of accomplishment for the former AFC Wimbledon man - all his work paying off in his first runout for the best part of a year. He was tidy at the back, and did well before coming off at the break.

There was also a place in the starting XI for young Djeidi Gassama as he continues to acclimatise to his new surroundings, and he caused plenty of problems before coming off towards the end of the second half with the job already done.

It was a strong perfrormance from Neil Thompson’s side as they ranout as 3-1 winners on the day, Sean Fusire brilliantly opening the scoring from outside the box before Rio Shipston volleyed home a second. Gassama was hacked down in the box just before half time and Bailey Cadamarteri made no mistakes from the spot to make it five goals in three matches.

There were plenty of good Owls performances out there as Fusire and Shipston ran the midfield, Sam Cook and Gui Siqueira played their full back roles to a tee, and Ciaran Brennan also made his return from injury in a solid performance alongside Heneghan at the back.

Wednesday’s victory sees them three games unbeaten this season, and ‘Thommo’ will be delighted with the way they applied themselves in their most recent outing in frong of a small Hillsborough crowd.