Hurling & Camogie

Arron Graffin on dislocating his knee in horror Cushendall hurling injury

Arron Graffin is carried from the Armagh Athletic Grounds pitch by, among others, Ballycran sub and GP, Andy Bell. Picture by Seamus Loughran
Arron Graffin is carried from the Armagh Athletic Grounds pitch by, among others, Ballycran sub and GP, Andy Bell. Picture by Seamus Loughran Arron Graffin is carried from the Armagh Athletic Grounds pitch by, among others, Ballycran sub and GP, Andy Bell. Picture by Seamus Loughran

IN a strange kind of way, Arron Graffin is almost thankful that it took him this long to dislocate his left kneecap.

When he suffered the exact same injury on his right knee playing for Antrim in Mullingar against Westmeath three years ago, the Cushendall man joined his two siblings and his mother in having done it.

His brother Shea did the same a few years back while playing tennis recreationally, while their sister Emma did hers while taking part in the annual Lurig Run around the village.

“We started slagging my Ma and Da about it, saying ‘who the hell gave us dodgy knees?’ and then it came out that my Mum [Monica] had knobbly knees since she was a wee girl. So she gets the brunt of the slagging.”

Graffin is in good humour, naturally enough.

He feared the worst when an innocuous tangle with an opponent as they both went to turn after a ball that had cleared their heads left him sitting on the pitch in agony.

It was early in the second half of the Ruairi Ógs’ Ulster Club final victory over Ballycran, in which the 30-year-old centre-back was having a stormer.

He recognised the pain, and the sight of his kneecap sitting off to the side.

“I’d done the other leg three years ago, I’ve been laughing that I’ve two bad legs now.

“It was similar, it’s painful at the time and you look down and see that your leg doesn’t look right. Initially the pain was pretty bad.”

Club loyalties were quickly set to the side. Ballycran substitute Andy Bell, a GP by trade, came on to treat him along with the St Joseph’s physio Leighton Bradgate.

They were joined by Francis Quinn, a native of Clonduff with family connection in Cushendall who was in the crowd. Along with their own Marion Carson and Claire Burke, two nurses who help out in the background with the senior hurlers, the quick and professional work they did is what’s given the deeply grateful Arron Graffin a fighting chance of playing in the All-Ireland semi-final against St Thomas’ in February.

“Andy Bell got the kneecap pushed in and Francis pulled the leg out straight. When they’re doing it, you can feel the muscles in your leg not wanting to do that and resisting against it.

“I was lying there and they were trying to calm me down, and all I heard was ‘it’s now or never to get this thing in, we need to get it in now’.

“They asked if I was ok for them to try and get it back into place, and I said ‘go for it’. I’m laughing now because one of the ladies that was there shoved a scarf into my mouth and said ‘bite down on that’.

“Next thing the knee got pulled, you could feel it resisting against it, but once it got clicked into place the relief straight away was overwhelming.

“They got it compressed and at that stage, the pain had very much gone away from it. It was hairy enough but I’m glad they were there.

“I could have been sitting a long time with it out because the paramedics were a bit slow coming to the pitch from the hospital.”

Graffin was carried to the changing room but with each passing minute, his frustration at being stuck inside away from it all grew.

The door would swing open with each score.

Five up. Six up. Seven up. Time’s up.

“I thought the ambulance was on-site or somebody would be taking me, but I sat on and sat on and I could hear the cheers, I was like ‘what the f***’s going on out there, who’s scoring?’

“Then somebody found out at the end that the ambulance was still 20 minutes away, so I said ‘any chance I could go out and see the lads?’

“So our chairman Aidan McAteer and a couple of the subs lifted me and brought me out. There was no point me sitting in there on my own.

“I sort of got chucked on to the pitch and I was saying then I needed to get back over by the changing room. A few boys lifted me over and I said ‘set me down here, I can see the cup being lifted’.

“It just worked out I was sitting right in the tunnel. It was nice, the way it worked out, Paddy Burke said a few words and it was brilliant.”

When the ambulance came, he was transported to Craigavon Hospital. The x-rays came back clear and, in a full-leg cast, he was able to go home and join the celebrations in the Lurig Bar.

When he’d done his right knee in 2015, he had to undergo keyhole surgery. But an MRI was taken on Monday and read two days later by renowned surgeon Chris Connolly, who delivered the news Graffin longed to hear.

“Chris read it and said I’d done no major damage to the cruciate, that it doesn’t look nice because there’s swelling and bruising, but apart from that the knee’s structurally strong.

“There’s just a lot of rigorous rehab needed to get the knee moving again, a lot of ice on it and getting the swelling down.

“It was as good as I could have expected with the injury I had, so I’m delighted.”

He’s been doing as he was told by Connolly and treating the knee as if it was normal by weight-bearing from early on. The crutches have been discarded and he expects the knee brace will be too by the end of this week.

Good timing too, since he and new wife Sara-Louise – who has her own All-Ireland adventure with Clonduff camogs to prepare for over the winter – are off to South America on their honeymoon this day week.

Drop-off is in Colombian capital Bogota before they head around Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil over the next three weeks.

“It’s a pretty hectic schedule and I was a wee bit worried I’d be hobbling about, but hopefully by next week I’ll be alright and good to go.”

That’s the unknown, but when he returns it will be on to a path he’s been down before. The rehab took around three months on his right knee, and that’s where the hope springs eternal that his left knee will be ready by February 9.

“It’s not out the window and it’s something I can work towards, a target to set to be ready for. The mind is willing and able, I’ll do everything I can to hopefully get it right and hopefully the body goes with it and responds well.”