HAPPY TO BE INSIDE THE FENCE

Horror injuries give Galvin new perspective

WHEN John Galvin was forced to stare i nto the darkest abyss — twice — the journey back to the summit was all that kept him going.

Galvin has taken more crushing blows than most in Gaelic football but says it was the dream of a careerdefining Munster football title success that sustained him through the low points of his double cruciate horror.

The big Limerick midfielder returned to action as the Shannonsiders beat London last weekend — a result that l eaves them i n pole position f or promotion to Division 3.

It was the 32-year-old’s first taste of competitive action in a year after rupturing his cruciate knee ligament against Fermanagh during last season’s campaign.

Agonisingly, that setback came just weeks after he’d recovered from his first knee injury, effectively sidelining him for the greater part of two years. Not even Limerick’s most ardent fans would have blamed the Croom man had he jacked in the inter-county game there and then.

However, for Galvin, retirement was never an option and, after such close calls in 2004, 2009 and 2010, it was the incentive of finally achieving Munster glory which kept him going through the lengthy recovery process.

‘There was never a moment where I was going to hang up the boots,’ Galvin told Sportsmail.

‘I always wanted to come back. Firstly, I wanted to make sure I did all the recovery work to get myself right and make sure the knee was healthy so I could continue with the rest of my life.

‘ Naturally enough, I also wanted to get back to football. I always said I wanted to retire and finish up on my own terms, to walk off the field, whenever that happens,’ he added

‘And, of course, I’m still trying to get that Munster title. That’s a place I’d love to get to. We’ve been trying and trying as a team and I’ve personally got very close on so many occasions ... that’s still a huge target.

‘To be honest, seeing the team get to an All-Ireland quarter-final when I was out (2011) was pretty hard to take as well. After all the years I’d been playing, not to get out at Croke Park in a match like that was tough.

‘So, I am hungry to get back playing and to see where the season goes. It’s about reaching as far as you can every year,’ said Galvin.

‘You never like being beaten but it happens and you can accept it when you’re beaten by the better team.

‘But there’s an awful lot of days when Limerick were not beaten by the better team. So, there’d be a whole lot of these things that drive you on.’

Galvin is perfectly placed to consider the long road ahead for Cork’s Colm O’Neill. The All-Star Rebels attacker was recently diagnosed with a third cruciate setback.

In cold terms, it’s quite a boost to Limerick as they play Cork in the first round of the Munster Championship but, after the two years he’s just endured, Galvin doesn’t take any positives from the news.

‘My heart goes out t o Colm,’ continued Galvin. ‘It’s a curse of an injury. The thing is, it could happen to anyone. In Colm’s case, it’s the opposite knee this time. I did the same knee twice. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

‘I actually did it the first time through a collision. That was slightly different to how it’s normally done. Look, it’s just a freak accident when it happens.

‘ Personally, I never had knee problems before and I firmly believe if it hadn’t occurred that time it wasn’t as if it was destined for me or that I had bad knees or anything. Just bad luck,’ he added.

Galvin said the toughest part of getting over the injury which has also affected players like Henry Shefflin, Paddy Bradley, Dermot Earley and Bernard Brogan is the long spells of isolation.

‘ That’s definitely the hard part because 85 per cent of the recovery is done on your own,’ said Galvin, a farmer by trade.

‘It’s different when you get to the stage where you’re back running with the lads. Basically, you’re on your own for the most part in the gym.

‘It’s hard to motivate yourself at times to do that.

‘When you’ve such a long road ahead of you it’s hard to keep the discipline and get through it all.

‘All you can do really is set yourself goals, weekly goals first, then longerterm ones. That’s basically how you get through it,’ added Galvin.

He ticked a big box last weekend when he returned to action in the defeat of London as a 66th-minute introduction.

There have been no ill effects in the intervening days and he could feature on Sunday week for Limerick’s crucial final-round tie against Clare.

Presuming Clare beat London in the League’s outstanding tie t hi s weekend, the Ennis tie seven days later will effectively be a shoot out for promotion to Division 3.

‘ It’s kind of like two semi- finals because we play Clare and Offaly play Tipperary,’ said Galvin.

‘The winners of the two games will go up. It’s an exciting way for the whole thing to finish up and a great way to get promotion, if you can do it.’