THE ROAD back to full fitness after a cruciate ligament injury can be a lonely one to walk.
In his darkest days, Colin Walshe looked to Cork sensation Colm O’Neil for inspiration and feels after countless hours in the gym, he might just be in the shape of his life.
The Monaghan defender - an Electrical Engineer with ESB International in Dublin - went down under an innocuous challenge in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final against the Dubs but he got up, shook off what he presumed was just a heavy bang on the knee and played on for the remaining 45 minutes.
An MRI scan three days later revealed that Walshe had ruptured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in the collision and also suffered a grade two tear in his lateral knee ligament.
With the help of All-Ireland winner and physio Enda McGinley, his rehab was staged to perfection.
"Colm O'Neill is the one man I looked at throughout it all," said Walshe.
"You don't really appreciate how hard it is to come back from a long-term injury until you experience it yourself. He has gone through this three times and I kept saying to myself 'Come on, surely you can do it once'.
“To think that he is back playing at the top level again is just unbelievable. There's plenty of boys that have gone through this kind of rehab a couple of times and it's crazy to think how I'd feel if I was to do it again because it is so tough.
"But Enda McGinley was the driving force behind it all. I first met him two weeks after the operation and he planned everything in my comeback to a tee. He recovered from a cruciate himself to come back and win an Allstar in '08 so I was in good hands.
“I can't thank him enough for his help. He pushed me to the limit but everything he asked of me, I did it.
“Without Malachy O'Rourke, Ryan Porter and Enda, I wouldn't be where I am."
Watching from the sidelines has undoubtedly given him a new-found appreciation for his inter-county career.
“I never really had a major injury that ruled me out of jogging or running for months on end and you do take it all for granted,” said Walshe.
“I got the scan on the Tuesday morning and even at that stage it never even crossed my mind.
“When I got the news that it was the ACL, I was just counting the months until I could get back playing.
“The doctor said that because we were out of the All-Ireland, it was probably a good time of the year to do the cruciate - if there is such a thing.”
On a personal level, 2013 was a monumental season for Walshe. After winning the Sigerson Cup as captain of DIT, the Ulster Championship with the Farney County and being awarded an Allstar, last season served as a reminder that Gaelic football can be a cruel game.
Jordanstown struggled in the Sigerson Cup, Donegal toppled Monaghan in the Anglo-Celt decider and Walshe played 60 per cent of his last game in 2014 with a torn cruciate.
Determined to keep his inter-county career alive, Walshe immersed himself in the rehab.
“The weeks and months at the beginning are the tedious parts but all that has to be done because you need to get the leg working again," he said.
“You’re trying to tense the quad muscle all the time because it depreciates quite quickly. You need to get the full range of movement back as quickly as you can.
“Then you’re hanging your leg over the end of the bed and forcing it down to the floor to try and get a bit of hyper-extension back in it. It's painful stuff but you do see progress.
"I had a tough few months leading up to Christmas but when I got back running towards the New Year, that made it easier because I was close to getting back on the pitch.
"That was always the first big stage. Thankfully I'm back playing and just trying to get as sharp as possible now."
Walshe’s first appearance of 2015 was as a 43rd minute sub in their quarter-final with Cavan, kicking Monaghan’s final score in a one-point win.
And when other managers would have been desperate to rush an Allstar defender back to match-fitness earlier, Malachy O'Rourke allowed Walshe to pace his comeback.
"From day one, he helped me," he said.
"He never put any pressure on me to get back playing and never put a date in my mind. He always left that up to me - he still does.
"My main aim was always to have a pair of boots on me for the Ulster Championship opener and thankfully I got there.
"I was with the lads the whole time in pre-season.
"In hindsight, it was brilliant to keep my face in at training because it meant I wasn't always going to the gym on my own. You're on your own a lot when you're coming back and there's nothing more lonesome.
"It was great to get the call to go in against Cavan because I was sick of looking in at games from the bench.
"I was a bit nervous because I hadn't much game time under my belt. Club football is one thing but county football is another."
In a previous era of football, a cruciate injury was like a death sentence for an athlete's career. The rehab programmes are now so intrinsic and calculated that many players feel they are more rounded athletes upon their return.
Corner-forwards up and down the country will be devastated to hear that Walshe is no different.
"The thing about the rehab is you get a full run at it with absolutely no distractions," he said.
"People find they come back feeling stronger and fitter. You're constantly at the gym. My fitness, strength and mobility have improved because I targeted certain areas in a lot more detail than I would have.
"You can fine tune areas that you wouldn't have been able to if you had training and games a couple of nights a week. All you are lacking is a bit of match sharpness by the end of it all.”
Walshe’s reward is starting tomorrow’s last-four clash with Fermanagh. Operation ‘Match Sharpness’ begins now.
