OBSESSED?
CONOR MEYLER doesn’t dispute that charge. He effectively put his life on hold this year after all, spending thousands that he’ll never recoup, going to the gym twice daily more often than not — and even hanging upside down and going to hyperbaric chambers in order to overcome injury and to play for Tyrone again.
Naturally enough, there was an impact on ‘my personal life this year, on family, on friends, relationships’. And at the end of it all, he still didn’t see a single minute of league or Championship action.
The 2021 All-Ireland winner underwent knee surgery last October and never truly recovered, suffering a fresh Achilles injury just as he was about to return this summer.
The latest update is that he requires more surgery in the coming weeks, still has to shake off the Achilles issue and will probably miss his club’s championship campaign.
He hopes to be available for Tyrone’s 2025 pre-season campaign and, long-term, knows that a knee replacement is his lot. “It’s a case of how far can I push that down the road,” he said at the announcement that BPerfect Cosmetics is the official Diversity and Inclusivity Partner of the Gaelic Players Association.
So is it all worth it? You better believe it.
“I want to play until I’m 35,” revealed Meyler, who will shortly turn 30. “I was looking at (Galway’s) Paul Conroy at the weekend and thinking that what he has done is incredible. I have more admiration for fellas who have had longevity like that and don’t come away with anything at the end of it, than fellas who pick up a couple of All-Stars and an All-Ireland and retire early.”
Meyler and Conroy both broke their legs in 2018. Meyler was given a 12-week recovery period yet somehow concertinaed it down to four, getting back to start that season’s All-Ireland final loss to Dublin. It was the first big insight into his remarkable mindset.
But similar to a David Goggins tale of Herculean effort against all the odds, there was also a toll to be paid on the other side.
“I had knee pain for nine months later,” recalled Meyler.
What the Omagh man put himself through this year was even more improbable.
Medics told him in February following scans that, ‘You’re done’ for the year but he refused to accept the prognosis.
“I got myself back into contention,” he said. “Then I went back and played a game for my club before we played Cork and the knee held up but I wrecked my Achilles. That was hard because it wasn’t quite the fairytale ending I’d hoped for and dreamed of. I don’t regret throwing everything at it because that’s just who I am.”
Which is where the obsession comes in.
“With the injuries, they do force a lot of self-reflection because you spend a lot of time by yourself,” said Meyler, considering the charge. “And I’ve become very content and comfortable with that because although you’re on your own, you’re not lonely, in the sense that you have yourself and you trust yourself. But that rehab process is still a lonely journey.
“I’m thinking in the last year, there’s 365 days there but I was probably in the gym 500 times, I was in the gym twice a day most days. All you were doing was focusing on getting back playing and there is something obsessive about that but I suppose for me on my own journey, like, I remember having a moment, I went for a walk one night, late at night, and I was just standing there going, all I’ve wanted to do is to play for Tyrone, since I was no age, I had the posters on the wall of Tyrone players, a picture of Croke Park, my Dad was taking me down to Croke Park and I was watching Tyrone win All-Irelands in ’03, ’05 and ’08′ but I was never the star player growing up.
“My Dad was coaching underage teams and I was on the B teams. I was good at cross country and athletics but even chatting to my Dad one day a couple of months ago, I said, ‘Did you ever think I’d actually play for Tyrone at that age?’ He said, ‘Not really, you weren’t making the teams’.
“The reason I got to where I was, was through hard work and that’s something I’ve always tried to hold onto. But it took me to a point where it probably broke me as well. There’s an element of being able to let go and accept that you can’t physically train any more.
“Like, I was going through injuries with hamstrings and the knee and all the rest where that obsession probably cost you. But it’s just who I am. As I say, I had the moment when I looked at myself and said, ‘Am I crazy in what I’m doing here, trying to get back?’
“Could I have just wrote off a year and said it wasn’t to be? No, because I was never on this path towards playing for Tyrone and I said I wanted to exhaust every ounce, and I will, and I will get a knee replacement some day, who knows what the future holds, but I’d rather say I went all in and threw everything at it. For now, I think I have a lot more to give.”
He thinks the same of Tyrone too. Since that 2021 All-Ireland win, they’ve played 15 Championship games and won just six, losing eight and drawing another. What needs to change to get them back challenging again, like neighbours Armagh?
“I think everything from the top down, we need to reassess and look at it all,” said Meyler. “The county board, the whole management and backroom team, I think just everybody and players especially. Everybody needs to take a long look at themselves and say, ‘Where are we at here?’ Just have a proper review because the stats there, the win percentage over the last couple of years, it’s just not good enough.
“You can afford a slip up here and there, or lose a few games, or have potentially one poor season, but we haven’t been consistent and that’s on us to sort out. So a review is needed, top to bottom.”
Irish homegrown beauty brand BPerfect Cosmetics have announced a groundbreaking sponsorship, becoming the Official Diversity and Inclusivity Partner of the Gaelic Players Association.
