THE GAME WAS stopped for 10 minutes and the delay felt much longer than that; Paddy Barrett described it as his scariest moment in football. 

Lee Desmond had collided brutally with his own goalkeeper and was left splayed across the ground, unmoving, unconscious. Then he came around and briefly had neither speech nor vision, but recovered both by the time he was spirited to St James’ Hospital nearby. 

Lee Desmond is stretchered from the field after sustaining a head injury against Waterford. Tommy Dickson / INPHO Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO

It took him six weeks to return to training but now he’s back in the Pat’s team, starting last week’s league defeat in Derry and in contention for tonight’s FAI Cup semi-final with Dundalk [KO 7.45pm].

“The initial few minutes were scary”, he says. “I’m sure you’ve heard me say it before, I couldn’t see or speak, I was struggling to move to be honest. I felt I was temporarily paralysed. Once that came back, I was absolutely fine.” 

Once he got to hospital his main task was to contact and reassure family and friends, and once he was discharged everything was focused on getting back. 

“Although I didn’t want to be out, sometimes it can be a good thing to take a little step back, watch and realise how good it is. Not that I ever took things for granted – I definitely didn’t – but just to see things from a different perspective, you get that extra little 5% hunger back. I feel I’ve come back even better and brighter than I was before the injury.” 

It took exactly six weeks to complete the return-to-play protocols and return to full training, initial progress stalled when his symptoms returned after his first day of heavy running. They dug in for 10 days and stymied his recovery, but another trip to the neurologist and a clear MRI scan alleviated any serious concerns. 

“I did have very, very light headaches and the odd time I still get them. If I threw my head in front of a shot now, I might still have a little, light headache. But it’s nothing dangerous. The physios are happy for me to carry on. Sometimes people get concussion symptoms for months, and some get them for years, but I am definitely passed that now.” 

He says he is not at any greater risk of another brain injury in the future. If he was, he wouldn’t be playing and Pat’s wouldn’t allow him to play. 

A second knock isn’t going to put me at risk any more than another player. I actually got a knock – an elbow in the head – and split my head open up in Derry on Friday and I was absolutely fine. But the first thing I thought of was my mam watching telly, watching the match and seeing me go down with blood on my head. She was going to fear the worst. But I’m in the clear now. I’m not at any further risk of getting knocked out again and the same thing happening again.

“If there was any risk, I wouldn’t be playing. One, the staff wouldn’t let me play and, two, I wouldn’t either, because I understand how serious it was and what a scary moment it was. So I wouldn’t be putting myself at risk like that anymore.”

Desmond returned as a second-half substitute away to Drogheda 49 days after the injury, overwhelmed by the reception from the home fans and in more than enough time for the game he targeted: the FAI cup semi-final. 

Desmond after his return against Drogheda. Brian Reilly-Troy / INPHO Brian Reilly-Troy / INPHO / INPHO

That takes place at Richmond Park tonight against holders Dundalk, and it’s Pat’s first return to the semi-finals since 2016. Then they were beaten by Cork City, but Desmond says everything feels different this time around. 

“There wasn’t a big feeling on the day that we were in an FAI Cup semi-final, it was quite strange. It definitely didn’t have the feel that this year has. I think it’s a tighter group of players this year, and there’s a lot more belief in the squad.”  

The main difference seems to be the base from which Pat’s are attacking the Cup this year. In 2016 they finished in the bottom half of the league whereas this year, under Stephen O’Donnell, they have established themselves as Shamrock Rovers’ closest challengers and should finish second with a degree of comfort. 

“I suppose I can only speak for myself because I wasn’t playing much that year, I only got in the team in the second-half of the season”, says Desmond.

“It wasn’t very enjoyable. We weren’t winning games. As I said, I wasn’t playing much. It was a strange feeling. But now we are all in it together and we are all going in the right direction. That’s a massive part of trying to be successful.

“You definitely can’t be successful without having a tight-knit group. We also have quality as well and top professionals and we train very, very hard every day. The intensity and standard in training every day is streets ahead to what we were back then. I would have been 21 or something then, but it’s only when you see it and you are around this level of training everyday that you are saying, ‘If only we were like that a few years ago, where would we be now?’ 

Pat’s haven’t been to the final since ending their 53-year quest for victory in the 2014 final, but Desmond has been there every year, albeit up to now as a bystander. 

““I’ve been every year, I usually go with my dad. You are sort of sitting there saying, ‘Why isn’t this me?’

“But that’s always been the goal for me and for a lot of the lads. We have a great opportunity now, so hopefully this is the year.”