Early January, the worst possible time to suffer a season-ending injury.
Just ask Sean Mulkerrin who winces when reminded of everything he’s missed out on since.
If he hadn’t shattered his kneecap while playing for NUI Galway in Round 1 of the Sigerson Cup, he’d have experienced their eventual title win for starters. Then, with Galway, there was promotion to Division 1 and the more recent Connacht title success.
Chances are the man from the Aran Islands would have been starting this Sunday against Armagh at Croke Park too. The winners of that one will play Derry or Clare for a place in the All-Ireland final. You don’t want to rub it in but, frankly, this wasn’t a good year to miss.
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“No, I suppose it wasn’t, it wasn’t at all,” shrugged Mulkerrin. “It was challenging personally just to feel like you could have contributed something to both campaigns, with the college and the county.
“When you feel like you can’t contribute a bit on the pitch it makes it that bit more tough and challenging but, then again, when you’re in and around the set-up you feel like you’re contributing something, picking up cones or picking up water or whatever the case may be.”
Galway team-mates Sean and Paul Kelly, Matthew Tierney and Tomo Culhane were playing for NUI Galway that evening, when the rare injury occurred. A heavy bone on bone collision. “I was kind of planted and he was coming at speed, a small corner-forward just coming at speed, and he just hit the sweet spot, or the bullseye, and kind of shattered the kneecap, it wasn’t pleasant now,” said Mulkerrin.
[ NUIG overcome David Clifford’s UL to claim Sigerson Cup gloryOpens in new window ]
A mixture of the severity of the injury and a delay with the ambulance arriving meant they ultimately ended the game early.
“I was half an hour waiting for the ambulance,” said Mulkerrin. “I suppose I was in agony, I didn’t even realise what time had gone by and it only kind of hit me afterwards when you were getting the messages and phone calls about what had actually happened and how long you were waiting.”
Mulkerrin has remained part of Galway’s group since and has watched an intriguing season unfold.
“The two previous years we have been hindered by Covid and maybe didn’t get as much time as we would have liked to work on different scenarios,” he said.
“If you go back to pre-Covid, we were doing very well in the league that season. I think we had only one loss, to Kerry, a one-point game.
“It was great this year to have the actual proper preseason to work on different aspects and systems and structures that the management want to implement.”
Like everyone else, Mulkerrin is fascinated about the battle that will take place between Galway’s inside forward line and the Armagh full-back line. Walsh-Comer-Finnerty, it’s some attacking triumvirate, and Mulkerrin speaks from experience when he details their qualities.
“I’ve got my fair share of trimmings in training from them, I can tell you that,” he said. “If you look back at the Connacht final alone, how well the three of them were linking inside together, it was great and they’ve a lot more in them as well in terms of working together and doing it a bit more but they’re really firing at the minute which is great to see as a Galway man.”
The easier side of the draw suggestion doesn’t sit too well with Mulkerrin though.
“Look, Armagh are there as well, you have Derry on our side and you have a good few strong teams there pushing,” he said. “Championship football is whoever turns up on any given day. I suppose it’s there for the taking for any team really.”
Mulkerrin was barely two when Galway blazed a trail to their last All-Ireland final in 2001, beating Armagh along the way. Current manager Padraic Joyce was among the stars of that team.
“Over 20 years is a long time without getting there,” agreed Mulkerrin. “But I suppose Padraic has instilled a belief and a trajectory of where we want to go and where we could go. You can see that now through the lads aiming high and I know we’ve won Connacht but that’s got to be parked now, you really can’t be looking beyond the quarter-final.
“You have to win them before you can get to the semi or the final so that’s kind of where the heads are at right now.”
Mulkerrin will cheerlead and encourage and cajole and help out as best he can. Beyond that, there isn’t a whole pile more he can do. Club football is at the top of his wishlist.
“Certainly that’s the goal,” he said. “I’ll try to play some part in it but it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen. It just means a good run into 2023. It would be a win-win either way, if I could put it that way.”
*Sean Mulkerrin was speaking at the launch of AIB’s new series The Drive which explores the adversity faced by inter-county players in the modern game and what drives them to pull on the jersey year after year. You can view the teaser for the series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZivfsdUSVI, with the first episode launching on July 29th across AIB GAA’s social channels.
