TYRONE forward Richie Donnelly is aiming to be back for the Dr McKenna Cup in January after injury forced him out of Trillick’s championship campaign.
Donnelly is currently on crutches after undergoing surgery for an injury picked up during the Red Hands’ run to the All-Ireland final, and will have to make do with watching from the sidelines when Trillick – county champions in 2015 – take on Ardboe in tomorrow’s quarter-final.
The 26-year-old suffered a torn meniscus cartilage and lateral damage the week before Tyrone’s crunch Super 8 clash with Donegal back on August 5, and has revealed he thought his season was over there and then.
However, Donnelly made a miraculous recovery to play 39 minutes against the Tir Chonaill men in Ballybofey and 57 minutes in the semi-final win over Monaghan before coming off the bench against Dublin in the All-Ireland final, replacing Connor McAliskey 48 minutes in.
“The Saturday before the Donegal game we were playing an in-house game in Omagh. It was a real wet, miserable morning, I went to turn and my standing foot slipped and the other one just caved in below me,” he said.
“I was probably lucky because at the time I thought that was everything gone. I thought the worst. I had to be carried off and I was in pain. I think the physios thought the worst too because I couldn’t move at all.
“But then I woke up on the Sunday morning and I was able to actually move the leg. When I was asleep, the meniscus bucket tear had basically fallen back into place.”
Medical experts still urged caution and advised him to have surgery straight away. However, presented with an option to delay that procedure, Donnelly jumped at the chance to prolong his summer having seen the previous two beset by a host of niggly injuries.
“The specialist said he only cared about my knee and nothing else, so he wanted to operate, but obviously he saw the resistance to that.
“He gave me the scenario that if Donegal beat us I’d be in on the Tuesday for surgery, then if Monaghan beat us you’re in here on the Wednesday, and it went on from there.
In the back of my mind I was thinking ‘little does he know I’m playing for Trillick in the championship too’.
“But the way the knee deteriorated and the pain got worse, it turned out the thing was flipping in and out whenever I was active, so I couldn’t hold out any longer.”
He didn’t realise it at the time but the discomfort caused by the injury had a serious effect on his mobility going into such a crucial stage of the year as Tyrone chased a first All-Ireland title in 10 years.
Almost a month on from their final defeat to the all-conquering Dubs, Donnelly reckons he “wasn’t above 80 per cent” in terms of full fitness.
“At the time I felt it had no effect but looking back at clips you actually can see that I’m not free moving. Even the execution of skills, it seems to have had some sort of impact, but at the time it wasn’t on my mind.
“Probably looking back I’d say I wasn’t above 80 per cent, and at that level it’s just not suffice to perform. It was bad timing.
“Given the way the last two years have gone from an individual point of view, I wasn’t going to rule myself out easily, especially knowing what was coming down the line.
“I was confident in the way the team was going at the time, and I was very keen to do anything I could because of the work I’d put in to get to that stage.”
Yet when he did finally go under the knife, a bigger job than anticipated awaited. It might be for the best in the long-term but, sitting in the stands in Pomeroy tomorrow, that will be of little consolation.
“They didn’t know the extent of the damage until they actually went into the knee,” continued Donnelly.
“Going into the surgery I was hopeful it might have been a quick clean out and then back in two or three weeks and able to feature in the club championship.
“I just assumed I’d be able to get through it and then get it looked at. But when he went in he did the full repair of the meniscus and cartilage, and that requires four months… long-term for the knee it’s a good thing but, for how I feel now, it’s not a good thing.
“I’m aiming to be running in December and back playing in January, maybe mid-January. It’s not too bad that way, but missing games for Trillick is probably worse than missing a Tyrone game to be honest.
“It doesn’t sit too easy with me now, not being able to get out and play for the club.”
