The forward is among four Meath footballers working their way back from knee ligament injuries, one milestone at a time

We have become something of a Monday club – a quartet of crocked Meath footballers gathering to try to navigate our way back from cruciate knee ligament injuries.

The recovery journey is largely a lonesome one but on Monday evenings we meet in Dunganny with Meath physio David McCrea for a collective gym session.

I tore my cruciate in June, Jack Kinlough suffered an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reoccurrence around the same time, Seán Coffey got injured in early August and just a couple of weeks later my Dunshaughlin team-mate Conor Gray suffered the same fate.

It’s not exactly a club with a waiting list of applicants eager to join, but those Monday get-togethers have helped break the monotony of the solitary rehab sessions every other day.

Don’t get me wrong, there are Mondays when lads might not want to see each other – just get in, get the work done and get out. But mostly it has been helpful for us all to have others going through the same recovery process.

It gives you a lift when other lads are encouraging you or notice that you’ve made progress. Ultimately, we’re doing our best to help each other come out the other side of this.

I was at training the night Conor got injured. He wasn’t in massive pain and initially thought he might even be able to run it off, but there was discomfort so the physio looked at him and recommended a scan. We were all shocked by the result.

When I suffered my injury during a Meath training session in the summer, Conor drove me home that night. It’s hard to believe we are both now dealing with cruciate injuries.

The four of us have chatted in recent weeks about the prevalence of cruciate injuries with Gaelic footballers, we’ve thrown out various opinions on what might be contributing to the rise but ultimately we can’t land on any definitive reason.

All we really have control of now is our recovery. Outside of Monday, that’s the lonely road we face. I’ve not kicked a football since June. I was only thinking about that this week. I’ve tried the odd solo with my good leg but I haven’t properly kicked a ball in more than four months. I can’t remember another time in my life where that’s happened.

There have been days I’ve been up in the gym looking out at the pitch and I’d find myself drifting off wondering what it feels like to kick a ball. Even saying that sounds strange, but the injury changed so much, so quickly.

For the most part, I’ve been staying positive, getting through the work and I’d be buzzing around thinking: “Yeah, I’m going well here, everything is going to plan.” But then there are still days you’d find it hard to get motivated because you’ve nothing to actually get fit for or aim towards for a long time.

I’ve got a static bike in the house now so a lot of my cardio work is done on it. Getting going can be the tough part but I always feel better after a session.

My go-to workout on the bike is 20 reps of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. By the end of that there would be a puddle of sweat under the bike. If I’m not feeling the energy for a hard session I’d maybe do 30 minutes straight in zone two or zone three.

Occasionally I’d notice the stronger leg working harder than the injured leg and I’d inadvertently find myself almost cycling sideways. So I’d have to readjust myself on the saddle.

In general I’ve been staying disciplined and would have something to do in the gym every day – whether it be exercises for the injured leg, the non-injured leg or upper body.

I’m back doing a good bit of jumping and working on running mechanics. You are basically trying to train your leg how to run again. I am still using the cold compression therapy machine and recently took my first isokinetic test in Santry – some people know it as the Roy Keane machine because of the viral video of him hammering out the reps during his cruciate recovery. I was happy with how it went, but it’s fair to say I didn’t go full Keano on it!

I’m walking quite freely now, the crutches are gone and I’m able to drive again. That has allowed me resume sub-teaching, which has been great. The original plan was to apply for a permanent teaching position in September but after the injury I decided to sub instead for this school year, allowing me more time to focus on my recovery while also gaining further teaching experience.

Staying busy is part of the plan, to be honest.

I went away with my brothers for a weekend to Rosslare as well, sea-swimming and some golf. We got a few buggies to go around the course but while they were playing golf, I was essentially playing pitch and putt. I wasn’t able to complete a full swing so I’d drive down the fairway in the buggy, drop the ball on a nice smooth patch and chip it towards the green. The lads enjoyed that!

I’ve done some co-commentary for matches during the Meath championship, got accepted to do a GPA emerging leaders course and also graduated from Maynooth, so life has been going on.

With the injury, my next significant milestone is a return to straight-line running. I’m still possibly three or four weeks away but there’s a definite sense it’s getting closer.

The Meath county final takes places on Sunday between Wolfe Tones and Donaghmore-Ashbourne. The winners, and the losers, will no doubt gather on Monday to pour over the details of the game.

And in Dunganny, our alternative Monday club will also reconvene.