ASK KEVIN DOWNES how long ago he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and he responds with the exact date.
“It was 30 July, 2016.”
A day like that tends to be difficult to forget.
In the past 15 years the torn ACL has become an increasingly common injury across all sports, not least in the GAA.
Just last month, five-time All-Ireland winner Bernard Brogan suffered a dreaded torn cruciate for the second time in his career. He did the damage after twisting his knee during a routine shooting drill near the end of a training session.
His older brother Alan revealed last week that the younger Brogan is aiming for an August return, which would be six months post-surgery. For Brogan to make it back to the field in such a short space of time would be a remarkable, if unlikely, achievement.
Downes made his comeback in April 2017, roughly nine months after the operation. That tends to be about the average, although it’s usually even longer before the player rediscovers any sort of form on the field.
“I remember my first couple of times involved in contact games in club training sessions,” explains Downes.
“You’re out for so long that it’s one thing doing drills and agility exercises with your physio. I remember being stuck in games and you’re so used to standing up watching things that you’re nearly still doing that when you’re out on the field. It’s just hard to get in there again.
“That comes around quickly. You get a few clatters and that knocks you back into life again. Look, it’s the guts of a 12 months injury so it’s bound to take a while to come back fully.
“You see Bernard Brogan there at the moment and Aron Shanagher there in Clare and even though you don’t know of these fellas, you’d nearly wince for them. You’d be gutted for them.”
A regular on the Limerick team since his debut in 2011, Downes was sentenced a lengthy period of time rehabbing the injury in the gym on his own. The psychological toll of feeling detached from the rest of the team can be a difficult one for players to deal with.
“The cruciate is a fairly lonely road. It’s difficult, a lot of rehab, a lot of work on your own. You’d have your exercise to do and you might be doing it on the side of the field and the boys are out doing their hurling session.
“You might have some days where X, Y and Z will happen but it’s good motivation. It’s a good grounding but it’s not a good thing to happen, obviously, but when it does happen it can have its positives. Unless you go through it, you don’t understand fully the long road that it is.”
Downes looked to athletes from other sports for inspiration during the long road back and explored some more unconventional methods to keep his fitness up.
“I remember that I saw a video of Sonny Bill Williams, the All Black,” he says. “He had a torn Achilles or something but he had a video up: he was on a rowing machine but he had the bad leg taped onto a skateboard.
Where there's a will, there's a way. pic.twitter.com/9zK5palkMf
— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) September 22, 2016
“I sent it onto Darragh Droog, our strength and conditioning coach and asked, ‘What do you think?’ He said, ‘Yeah come in the next morning’. I was inside in Delta Altitude Centre doing that taped up to the skateboard.
“There was a spinning class going on in the rest of the room. I could see them all looking at me, ‘What is this? What is this clown at?’ I suppose at that stage, you’d be mad to do anything to just get a bit of sweat up to feel normal again to get back doing a bit of training.
“It was kind of a fluke that I came across that. I was doing a lot of reading about it. I met up with Seamie Hickey who came back within seven months. Seamie is kind of supreme athlete so he was a great guideline. There’s plenty of examples out there. Podge Collins is only over there in Cratloe. He’s another good example to look at.
“These boys came back. In some ways, it’s reassuring to see them. Obviously, they have to go through everything. To see the light at the end of the tunnel. Seamie came back, in his season back, and won an All-Star.
“It was good to see those example and to have something that (says) this isn’t totally doom and gloom. It’s kind of a lonely road and there are times when you’d be trying to do a certain exercise, stretch your quad or do whatever and it’s just not happening and you’re saying, ‘Will this ever come back around?’
“To come back from it was brilliant. It was very satisfying for myself. I suppose when you’re playing and you don’t have that, you can take certain things for granted, maybe. That really gives you an appreciation for it definitely. It’s a good thing to look back on as well.”
Since his return to full fitness during the 2017 campaign, Downes helped Na Piarisagh delivered Limerick and Munster honours, while the full-forward bagged a goal in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Slaughtneil.
“It was very satisfying,” he says of the win over the Ulster champions, where Na Parsaigh found themselves down to 13 men early in the second-half.
“In the first half we were very disappointed with the way we played. We didn’t get out of the blocks at all. At half-time we went in and got a dressing down from the management and we knew we had to up our game, big time.
“Even at the start of the second half, we were starting to hurl much better. We were getting into full flow, I suppose, really. We got a couple of points and then, obviously, the two boys got sent-off. That really snapped us into reality.
“It would a handy excuse, if you want to call it that, if you were beaten to say, ‘Sure, look, we were down to 13, what do you expect?’ I don’t think it (falling apart) was ever an option.
“It was one where you got into the dressing room after and there wasn’t manic celebrations. It was more relief: ‘Thank God we got over that one.’”
Downes admits the St Patrick’s Day decider, which pits the last two All-Ireland champions against one another, is a “romantic scenario” for neutrals.
“People were whispering about it when we played in the provincial finals. It was being spoken about if Na Piarsaigh and Cuala meet or whatever, obviously with the two previous champions meeting it’s set-up to be a great game.
“They’re a very talented team, they’re All-Ireland champions. They’re going to pose a huge challenge and having the two previous champions it’s set up to be a great game. We have to step aside from that and take it at face value of what it is, an All-Ireland final.
“We can’t be getting invovled in the hustle and bustle, we just have to go out with a job to do and have the gameface on. We can’t get involved in the whole scenario.
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This stinks of “Jobs for the Boys” to b honest. Has Micko done much at underage/schools/club level (genuine question)?
Denis.List’s his experience right there in the article. Leinster have made a similar appointment with Cullen next season
And Cullen will be working with the Senior squad, Micko is looking after the A side.
Micko hopefully can pass on his great technical knowledge especially lineout work. As you say thou the back’s coach appointment is the crucial one
With POC still in situ ,it’s really hard to see what MOD could possibly bring after a stint coaching at schools level. This smacks of a very Munster job for one of the boys
Not a fan of players that r just retired nd then fall in coaching same players….can cloud decisions., for example is mick goin to recommend a player that he was great friends with to be dropped if his form is poor….???
He is retired 2 seasons at this stage. A big turnover of the player’s at munster since then.
He is retired 2 seasons at this stage. A big turnover of the player’s at munster since then.
Yea retired two years but not too many guys he wouldnt have trained or played with.It could be a great appointment but personally I wouldnt agree.
The impressive Rob Penney was shafted by the Munster Rugby board in order to make way for their good old boy, Anthony Foley, to become head coach; who in turn is intent on employing his good old boys instead of seeking the direct input of those with an enlightened, outside perspective. Group-think will now prevail.
Munster will be the big loser because Foley won’t have the same progressive-minded outlook and plan that Penney has. Munster will regress into their shell under Anthony Foley, and the slack will be compensated for by utter blarney from Foley and the media.
As a Leinster fan I hope your wrong.
If insider knowledge points to foley knowing something that mod can bring then there’s nothing wrong with appointing the right man for the job. If he’s giving his old pal a leg up it will fall apart along with his own career.
I don’t believe Anthony foley wants to throw away his carreer to give his mate a job.
Penney wasnt shafted.
Micko is looking after the a’s. Not first team. Might have little to do with the seniors.
Must be a pisser for Penny to see next years coaching ticket been lined up , could this be announced by Munster after Pennys gone ..
They let the cat out of the bag early enough this year bout him moving. Why should nexus years coaching ticket be any different? I’m sure he doesn’t hold a grudge.
Hope I’m wrong but has a ” jobs for the boys” ring to it
Micko being linked to the A squad hints fairly strongly that Ian costello could be the backs coach for the seniors.
this time last year there was howls about the fact that not one province had a native head-coach, now there’s howls when a native is appointed head coach & opts to select another native to be part of his coaching team?
Micko was known as a top-notch lineout analyst in his playing days, he had a very large part to play in the strength of the munster lineout in the past as he analysed the opposition lineouts & ran those patterns in training.