Gartland determined to bounce back from cruciate tear

DUNDALK defender Brian Gartland says he is determined to come back from the anterior cruciate ligament injury which halted his season less than a minute after it had begun.

The 34-year-old was playing his first game of 2021 when he went down in agony clutching his left knee after just 30 seconds of the 2-1 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on April 2nd.

Scans revealed he suffered a tear to the ACL with the former club captain now set to undergo surgery on April 30th.

Speaking to the LOI Arena podcast at the weekend, the five time league winner said it was one of the worst injuries a player could get but insisted he was determined to come back from it.

‘As a footballer it’s one of the worst ones you can get because you can get back quicker from a broken leg sometimes but it is what it is,’ he said.

‘I’m devastated footballing-wise but what can you do? It has happened and you just have to get on with it and you just look to what you can control and what is ahead of you.’

Gartland said he is aware he has a long road ahead of him to get back playing again but is determined to do so.

‘The operation is on the 30th and then you’re looking at six months and we’ll see where it goes.

‘They say six months to a year but you’re six to nine months generally for elite sport but it’s all depending on what you hit in terms of your strength and force and building up your quads and how your body responds and hopefully you don’t have many setbacks.

‘At my age you know your strengths and weaknesses and one of my strengths is my head. I’d like to think I’ve good mental strength so I’ve been positive this week.

‘I’ve got my head around it early days. I know there are going to be days and weeks ahead that I will just get fed up because I love training and I love working whether it is in the gym or on the pitch so when it changes and I know it’s going to be slow, tedious and probably a bit methodical at times, especially starting off, but it’s just about getting my head around it and being positive and getting through those weeks.

‘I’m humbled by the response but no one is dead. Sonia Hoey here, there was a fundraiser during the week, she’s struggling with cancer so when you put things like that into perspective. It’s six months for me. It’s a different challenge - a new challenge and a new goal. I get excited by challenges so that’s how I’m viewing it now,’ he said.

Asked would Gartland’s injury force Dundalk into the transfer market for another centre half, team manager Shane Keegan said: ‘If there is one that will improve us is the key to it. One that is gettable and would improve us.

‘If there is, to be fair to the club, they’ve always made us aware they’re willing to back us if there is a player out there that can strengthen things but we can’t sign any Joe Soap just because we’re short a player in that position.

‘They have to realistically be challenging for a starting place and that you’d be perfectly happy with throwing them in any given week. Finding that person is easier said than done but if we were able to find one, I think the club would back us on that yeah.’

Keegan has now challenged Gartland to bounce back in the manner that former team-mate Stephen O’Donnell did in 2014.

Like Gartland, the current St Patrick’s Athletic boss suffered an ACL injury in a Good Friday match against Shamrock Rovers but fought his way back to fitness to return to the starting line-up for the title-deciding final game of the season against Cork City which Stephen Kenny’s side won 2-0 to clinch the club’s first league title in 19 years. Both O’Donnell and Gartland scored that night.

Keegan said: ‘I suppose you are looking at things - although I’m not saying it’s a like for like injury - in the same way as what happened here to Stevie O’Donnell and the manner in which that season played out.

‘He came off his death bed almost to win the league title. You’re looking at it and saying ‘is Garts capable of doing similar?’ Of course he is.

‘He’s made for doing something like that so, fingers crossed, things go well for him in the next while.’