THE SUNDAY FLAME..
Gleeson hopes pain of watching on has lit a spark inside him
AUSTIN GLEESON found last Sunday “very hard” to deal with.
It was Waterford’s first big League tie at the newly developed Walsh Park and the 28 year old was sitting at home looking on.
Gleeson couldn’t even bring himself to go to the game or even to watch it on TV for a while.
Instead, he followed it online for updates
“Then, I said I should be watching it or I should be in there and ended putting it on,” he said.
“It was probably the hardest day I’ve had so far since I stepped away.”
He continued: “I woke up last Sunday morning and it was probably the first time I was actually thinking ‘I could be in there.’”
“I found it very hard to be honest.
“I watched the first couple of minutes and it probably hit me a bit more than I thought it would.
“It’s probably the hurt I was hoping to feel in a way that it might give me a small bit of drive back that I’m trying to get really.
“In a way it is a good start – and in a way it was a bit of a nightmare.”
Gleeson will have a few more of those days to go through this year as he reiterated his decision that he won’t be back in blue and white in 2024.
“It won’t happen this year – definitely not,” he said. “I’m not even going to say it might.
“Look, I’m back training with the club a couple of weeks in the gym and getting back to that fitness level you need.
“I’m after missing three months of training. It would just be a waste of time going back in at the moment because I don’t think I’d get back up to that level for Championship.”
The reasons for his decision are, “probably fatigue on the mind, fatigue on the body, fatigue on everything possibly.”
Gleeson continued: “Last year I was picking up a lot of niggly injuries, which didn’t help.
“Maybe it was the body telling me to give it a break and not be ploughing through as hard sessions as I had been doing over the last 10 years.
“My mind was definitely telling me to step away.
“Being completely honest, I was stepping away for the 2023 season.
“I actually informed Davy (Fitzgerald, inset) that I was doing it.
“But between himself, his management and a couple of the players speaking to me, I decided I’d go in and see how it goes for the year.
“Look, it didn’t end up going too well, or the way that we wanted it.
“I stepped away this year. Maybe if I’d stepped away last year I’d be back in this year but who knows?
“You can’t change the past.”