CIAN BOLAND HAS traveled a long road over the past two years or so.
He fell victim to ongoing patellar tendonitis (in other words, inflammation of the tendon that joins your kneecap to your shinbone, or a painful knee injury) which has left him watching from the sidelines in his tracksuit more often than not.
Having impressed through the Dublin underage ranks and truly coming to the fore when he hit U21 level, a call-up to the seniors was inevitable.
He was summoned by Ger Cunningham and featured in the championship throughout the summer of 2015. He was where he wanted to be, playing at the top level possible.
Destined for great things the following year, he couldn’t wait to get going again. It was his last year of U21s too, so he was determined to leave his mark and help his side to glory.
But he was struck down. Hard and fast. The unbearable pain in his knee left Boland with a cloud of uncertainty over the year ahead.
He was ruled out for the senior league campaign, with the viewpoint that rest and recovery may have him back in action for the summer. That wasn’t to be. Well, not with the seniors.
Nothing would stop him from trying his hardest with the U21 side though. There was endless amounts of physio and individual training, watching from the sidelines as his team-mates went about their business evening after evening.
31 May 2016 – the starting team dropped for their Leinster U21 quarter-final against Wexford. And there the St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh forward was, starting in the number 12 jersey. ’Boland’s back,’ read the headlines. He was, but probably shouldn’t have been.
“The first year I got it, I struggled through the U21 campaign,” he tells The42. ”I couldn’t do much training or anything.”
He struggled through indeed, but taped his knee and featured as Dublin claimed their first Leinster title since 2011 and proceeded to the All-Ireland semi-final. A huge feat on an individual level too considering the pain he was withstanding.
That day in Thurles, it took extra-time to separate the Sky Blues and Galway but it ended in heartbreak for the former. Dejected, he knew that was that. The year was over, without a huge amount of hurling under his belt.
“I actually haven’t played much since then,” he continues. “Not as much as I’d like to anyway.”
He went under the knife last October. And then it was back to the drawing board at the start of this year, back to trying to get right but to no real avail.
He returned to the Dublin fold, which was one step in the right direction and featured in this year’s league campaign — which the Dubs ended relegated to 1B after defeat to Clare in April.
May rolled around, and disaster struck again — leaving him in limbo, and out of action for Dublin’s championship run.
“I got injured again in a club game at the start of May so it’s been on and off. I haven’t been playing as consistently as I’d like.”
He’s hoping that will change however.
Of course, Dublin’s new hurling manager has been a huge talking point over the past week or so. Pat Gilroy — the 2011 All-Ireland-winning football boss — has taken the reins on a three-year term.
At a media event this week, the Dubliner revealed that he yet has to formalise his playing panel and management team.
And Boland matched his words, saying he was unsure of what lay ahead just yet, and that he had no idea about how the panel would shape up.
“I’m not really too sure what the story is at the moment,” he continued. “Just with the appointment only made last week.
“From my own point of view, I’m just looking to get myself right again, to get back playing after the injuries I’ve had. That’s my main objective at the moment.”
It’s an exciting prospect though, he says:
“It’s an interesting appointment. It’s good. I hear he’s very organised so it’s good from that point of view.
“The main thing is he’s a Dublin man, it’s always good to have that passion from a manager from your county. It’s a positive from that point of view.”
Off the field, Boland is still a DCU student. He did his undergraduate in Business, specialising in Marketing in his final year and is set to graduate next week. This year, he’s undertaking a Masters in Digital Marketing, ‘the right fit for me,’ he smiles.
He missed quite a chunk of his hurling exploits with the Glasnevin-based college through injury over the past few years, so he’s hoping to make amends in the months ahead.
“Hopefully I’ll get back playing, and get back playing with DCU. It’s good craic, the Fitzgibbon, so just hopefully I’m back eligible to play.
“This year’s a different story with this Masters. It’s quite intense even though I only have 12 hours of lectures, there’s a lot of independent study.
“There’s been a lot of late nights so far and I can imagine it’s only going to get worse. Hopefully I’ll pass with flying colours though!”
Cian Boland was one of six inter-county GAA players to receive Masters scholarships at DCU Business School, announced on Thursday.
Subscribe to The42 podcasts here:
I could get over them having wanted to play for England if they were going in fully committed, but the way Bamford seems to be yanking McCarthy’s chain has me seriously questioning him. In or out ffs. We’ve always been technically weaker than other teams but team spirit and commitment has generally been what’s bridged that gap. It can’t be under-valued or taken for granted. If he’s this non-committal, odds are he’s not going to give 100% when he comes in. That’s not to say being born and raised in Ireland is any guarantee of this. Just compare Jon Walters and Stephen Ireland. Bamford really not endearing himself though by ignoring Mick’s calls and the like.
@ScewMadd: totally agree! Whether you like Bamford for not he does have links to Ireland but the “I’ll consider my options” stuff is getting really old.
@ScewMadd: he’s had serious injuries. If Leeds lost him now then it would be disastrous for their promotion bid. Bamford stalling for the moment makes perfect sense. Leeds fans would never forgive him if an injury for Ireland against Gibraltar cost them the promotion they crave
@Stanley Baggins: completely agree I don’t want him near that Ireland squad until the season is over for Leeds.
I agree with Kevin Kilbane that Patrick Bamford’s first choice was England, but Ireland aren’t in a position to be picky right now. He’d be a very good addition to the Ireland squad at the moment.
@James Clancy: Spot on,yesterday’s squad announcement showed the squad needs to be supplemented with quality.
@James Clancy: not buying it, your either Irish or English, not just Irish when your not good enough for England
@emmetnichol: reality is vast majority of players would pick England over Ireland if they’ve been born and raised there. Its a more natural choice and u have your agent in your ear telling you how many more zeros on your career earnings it’ll make. Kilbane is the exception. He was immersed in Irish culture since birth.
Clinton could have played for the mighty Jamacia but he decided on us..legend
Granny rule players used to declare for Ireland because it put them in the shop window. If they nutmegged Baggio in a game then that often resulted in a move to Liverpool or Everton a few weeks later.
Today players even in the championship are on such nice money that they don’t need International football anymore to retire wealthy…. So when a great player wants to play International football for us where we pay nothing to them in return, even if they only decided at 25 years old to join, then we should still welcome them with open arms.
Sweet god… do we ever learn. Laughing stock..
You can only laugh at the very small minority who knock granny rule players when we’ve just named a squad containing the likes of Glen Whelan and Padraig Amond. No disrespect to those two at all who are wonderful professionals but they’re hardly Aldridge, Townsend, Houghton etc
Another Clinton Morrison, albeit a lot more talented
@Seán Ó’Sionúir: The Clint did very well for us.
@Seán Ó’Sionúir: you should watch the sky YouTube interview of Clinton on playing for Ireland. He’s was 100% committed to the irish setup from the outset, unlike wasters Bamford, Rice, Grealish, Noble, Nolan etc
@Facundo: you should leave Noble out of that list, he was approached and did the honourable thing and said he felt English so he wouldn’t declare for us.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
@Panch Murphy: Yeah and he also went out of his way to have a whisper in rice’s ear about declaring for England, along with rats John Terry, gold and sullivan, swaying his decision. Beautiful human beings, all 4 of them
Quality will improve by picking Irish players over English players starting at under age level