KILLIAN YOUNG HEARD the crack and looked down. He didn’t need a doctor to give him the bad news.
The following weekend he should have been a part of one of the games of the summer, a glorious addition to Kerry and Dublin’s fabled rivalry, but instead he was stuck in bed.
It hurt him not to be on the pitch with the green and gold number six on his back, but it was even worse to be hundreds of miles away from Croke Park, watching on TV.
Though he’s only 27 Young has been through his fair share of epics and that Sunday, he knew what he was missing.
He still hasn’t fully recovered — he doesn’t expect to play again until the latter stages of the league campaign at best — but even as he talks through that ill-fated training game in Fota Island, it’s clear that he’s looking forward rather than back.
“It could have happened 20 times over,” he says. “It’s football. It’s life. Sometimes it can hit you hard so you just have to get on with it.”
The break itself was just one of those freak accidents, he explains.
“My ankle was actually strapped at the time but it was the way the ankle turned over so much, it dislocated, and for your ankle to dislocate your fibula has to break.
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“It all happened in a split-second.”
“You just knew,” he continues. “You heard a crack and you looked down and your foot is gone in a completely different direction. You just knew that was your time.
“At that moment I was in complete shock.”
Young, right, with Dublin’s James McCarthy and Donegal’s Karl Lacey at the launch of Setanta Sports’ Allianz Football League coverage (INPHO/Cathal Noonan)
Once the morphine wore off, the initial worry was that he might never play again but once he met Johnny McKenna, the Sport Surgery Clinic’s ankle specialist, his mind was put at ease.
It would take time — eight weeks in a cast for starters — but once Young upheld his part of the bargain and did the necessary work, he’d be back.
“Progress is good,” he says with a smile. “I’m working hard in the gym at the moment. I haven’t started running yet but hopefully in the next two or three weeks.
“I’ve no date set. We’re going every two weeks, getting the body reassessed and making sure it’s in tip-top shape.
You don’t want to rush into things and get setbacks down through the year so it’s something that you need to be careful with.
He made the most of his time on the sidelines, booking himself in for keyhole surgery on a knee injury that had been niggling away at him. Eamonn Fitzmaurice won’t rush him back but with Eoin Brosnan and Tomás Ó Sé both hanging up their boots in the off-season, the experience of a three-time All-Ireland winner would certainly be welcome in the half-back line.
“Paul, as we all know, is a very versatile player who is comfortable on the ball, and is a very organised person as well. That’s the key at centre-back, being organised and having your defence set.
I think it will be an interesting one. Hopefully when I come back, I can put a bit of pressure on Paul and on the wing-backs as well, which will push the team forward.
It’s early days in the experiment yet but Galvin has previous in the position having lined out there alongside Fitzmaurice during UCC’s Munster club championship win in 1999.
Young agrees that dropping further back the field could give the squad’s old head a new lease of life.
“It would, like any player in a new position, it would. I really do think Paul would be a success there.
“He’s in great condition, looks after himself really well, and is a fantastic leader. He’ll bring great experience to the half-back line which will be needed.”
And what if Galvin makes that number six jersey his own by the time Young is fighting fit again?
“I won’t leave him off easy, I’ll push him all the way. If anything, that will benefit the team and push the half-backs as well.
“I’ll obviously have a pre-season done before I get back so it will put me in a great position to push the lads. That’s what’s going to carry the team forward.”
'You just knew. You heard a crack and your foot is gone in a completely different direction'
KILLIAN YOUNG HEARD the crack and looked down. He didn’t need a doctor to give him the bad news.
The following weekend he should have been a part of one of the games of the summer, a glorious addition to Kerry and Dublin’s fabled rivalry, but instead he was stuck in bed.
It hurt him not to be on the pitch with the green and gold number six on his back, but it was even worse to be hundreds of miles away from Croke Park, watching on TV.
Though he’s only 27 Young has been through his fair share of epics and that Sunday, he knew what he was missing.
It goes without saying that there’s never a good time to break your fibula but the week before an All-Ireland semi-final is especially cruel.
He still hasn’t fully recovered — he doesn’t expect to play again until the latter stages of the league campaign at best — but even as he talks through that ill-fated training game in Fota Island, it’s clear that he’s looking forward rather than back.
“It could have happened 20 times over,” he says. “It’s football. It’s life. Sometimes it can hit you hard so you just have to get on with it.”
The break itself was just one of those freak accidents, he explains.
“My ankle was actually strapped at the time but it was the way the ankle turned over so much, it dislocated, and for your ankle to dislocate your fibula has to break.
“It all happened in a split-second.”
“You just knew,” he continues. “You heard a crack and you looked down and your foot is gone in a completely different direction. You just knew that was your time.
“At that moment I was in complete shock.”
Young, right, with Dublin’s James McCarthy and Donegal’s Karl Lacey at the launch of Setanta Sports’ Allianz Football League coverage (INPHO/Cathal Noonan)
Once the morphine wore off, the initial worry was that he might never play again but once he met Johnny McKenna, the Sport Surgery Clinic’s ankle specialist, his mind was put at ease.
It would take time — eight weeks in a cast for starters — but once Young upheld his part of the bargain and did the necessary work, he’d be back.
“Progress is good,” he says with a smile. “I’m working hard in the gym at the moment. I haven’t started running yet but hopefully in the next two or three weeks.
“I’ve no date set. We’re going every two weeks, getting the body reassessed and making sure it’s in tip-top shape.
He made the most of his time on the sidelines, booking himself in for keyhole surgery on a knee injury that had been niggling away at him. Eamonn Fitzmaurice won’t rush him back but with Eoin Brosnan and Tomás Ó Sé both hanging up their boots in the off-season, the experience of a three-time All-Ireland winner would certainly be welcome in the half-back line.
In the meantime Kerry are experimenting, not least with Paul Galvin who has come off the bench to play at centre-back in the McGrath Cup.
“Paul, as we all know, is a very versatile player who is comfortable on the ball, and is a very organised person as well. That’s the key at centre-back, being organised and having your defence set.
It’s early days in the experiment yet but Galvin has previous in the position having lined out there alongside Fitzmaurice during UCC’s Munster club championship win in 1999.
Young agrees that dropping further back the field could give the squad’s old head a new lease of life.
“It would, like any player in a new position, it would. I really do think Paul would be a success there.
“He’s in great condition, looks after himself really well, and is a fantastic leader. He’ll bring great experience to the half-back line which will be needed.”
And what if Galvin makes that number six jersey his own by the time Young is fighting fit again?
“I won’t leave him off easy, I’ll push him all the way. If anything, that will benefit the team and push the half-backs as well.
“I’ll obviously have a pre-season done before I get back so it will put me in a great position to push the lads. That’s what’s going to carry the team forward.”
Setanta Sports announce 14 live games for the new GAA league season
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Eamonn Fitzmaurice GAA GAA 2014 Killian Young On The Mend Paul Galvin Kerry