Gerry Thornley talks to a player who is determined to stay positive despite having to return to Ireland with a shoulder injury sustained scoring the vital try against the Pumas

Alan Quinlan will most likely depart from Australia and head home to Ireland next Monday with his shoulder in a sling but with his head held high. The best 12 months of his career culminated in a spitefully-timed dislocated shoulder against the Pumas. His absence was sorely felt, but he'll forever be known as the player whose try ultimately and heroically earned Ireland a place in the quarter-finals.

Not that he remembered much about it immediately afterwards. The damage was sustained on landing heavily on his left shoulder when tackled by Ignacio Corleto, just before he grounded the ball with his right hand. So severe was the pain on impact he couldn't recall which hand he grounded the ball with until wincing at the moment on video two days later.

"It was a fumbled lineout by Argentina. Woodie just gathered it at the back of a lineout and I think one or two of them thought it was a knock-on; they just stopped. He made a good break, I just decided to support him on the inside and he popped the ball to me."

"I always felt that the full back would catch me because he was quite close to me, and he's a lot of pace Corleto, but I had it in my mind that I was going to get as close to the line and maybe reach out. He got me from behind, which I expected him to do," says Quinlan, smiling, "and I didn't expect to fall as hard as I did. My left arm was outstretched, I had the ball in my right hand. It was one of those things. It was freakish. It was the way my hand was positioned, very unfortunate really."

"I just knew the very minute I hit the ground. I couldn't remember touching the ball down, because of the pain. I knew straight away there was a serious problem with my shoulder. I presumed it was dislocated."

His shoulder having been relocated on the pitch by team doctor Gary O'Driscoll, Quinlan went straight to hospital with Gerard Carmody, the squad administrator, who was regularly updated from the ground by text messages, before returning to the dressing-room only five minutes after the full-time whistle.

"To see all the lads in a winning dressing-room was great."

You feel guilty for making him retell the sorry tale, but he seems to be taking it well. The ultra-positive outlook of the team doctor O'Driscoll, a key factor in Shane Horgan's successful three-week recovery from a torn quadricep on the eve of the World Cup, has swiftly infiltrated Quinlan's thinking, even if the reality of his plight dawned more clearly on Monday.

He was still, he admits, "a little drugged up from the pain killers that evening" but travelling with the squad to Melbourne and being obliged to watch training made it hit home.

"I'm mentally and physically drained by the whole thing. Yesterday was a bad day for me, but I suppose I'm more positive today. I'll just have to deal with the whole situation in a positive way. All the good wishes, the way everyone has treated me and supported me, has definitely helped me.

"I've had a lot of time to think about it and I've made up my mind that I am going to be positive about it. I'm going to be positive for the squad while I'm here, and I'm happy that I got here. I want to come back and do whatever I have to do to get my shoulder right. I was really enjoying the way things were going for me, especially in the last 12 months and I want to get back to that standard again."

Eager to make the most of limited opportunities, Quinlan had dirtied his bib when coming on as a 69th-minute replacement in the second Test against New Zealand in June of last year by being sin-binned within a minute. He's still a likeable rascal, but he stored away the glares of accusing team-mates in the dressing-room afterwards as a reminder to curb his feisty ways. He earned his squad place on merit and is Ireland's joint leading try scorer in the competition with Denis Hickie.

"I was really disappointed with my sin-binning, and I made up my mind after that tour if I was going to stay playing I was going to fulfil my potential, try and get myself right mentally and physically. I worked really hard to get to here and I've had some great times in the last 12 months."

A scan on Monday showed considerable ligament damage, but no nerve damage, so he'll obtain specialist advice as to whether rehabilitation will be sufficient or if he requires surgery, which wouldn't be for another two or three weeks. So the 29-year-old has time to make a decision.

"I'm not going to take a chance with it. If somebody says you can take a 50-50 chance on rehab, I'm not going to do that. I feel as if I've four or five good years left in me yet and I want to maximise those years. A couple of months out is not going to make a huge difference."

Struggling for sleep, such is the pain these past few nights, he requires regular monitoring and pain killers from O'Driscoll, and is advised not to travel back until Monday. For Quinlan, the hard road back starts then.

"I feel I still can improve a lot, and I have that thought in my head that whatever happens here, I still am going to improve and there's still a lot of good rugby left in me."