Curran feared career was over during injury woes

Curran and his Cliftonville team-mates will be in Uefa Conference League qualifying round action against Latvian side Auda at Solitude on Wednesday

Cliftonville forward Ryan Curran admits that he "didn't think he was going to be coming back" after a prolonged period out with a groin injury.

Curran spent close to two years out with the injury that first plagued him in the 2022 League Cup final.

But having recovered from surgery last November, the striker is raring to go for the new season which starts with Wednesday's Uefa Conference League second qualifying round first leg against Latvian side Auda at Solitude.

"I was going through a rough period for 12-16 months so I’m glad to be back in pre-season, it’s just a start but fingers crossed I can last a bit longer this time," Curran told BBC Sport NI

'Hopefully I've seen the back of it'

Curran has missed the majority of the last two campaigns through injury

Curran explained that the injury was sustained in the dramatic extra-time win against Coleraine in the League Cup final in February 2022.

He played through the pain to help the Reds achieve a second-place finish in the Irish Premiership that year, but then missed the majority of the 2022-23 season and the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign as he failed to get over the injury.

"I got through that season because we were doing so well, and that made it easier," the 30-year-old said.

"That summer we didn’t quite get to the bottom of it, and we went down the route of injections which wasn’t probably the best advice at the time.

"I managed to get surgery about a year after that in November 2023 and I’ve been working on a strength programme since that with our physio and another physio in Dublin."

The former Ballinamallard and Derry City forward hit 24 goals in his last full campaign before his prolonged spell out, which earned him a share of Cliftonville's golden boot with Joe Gormley.

He conceded that, mentally, it was difficult to go from playing regularly to being on the sidelines.

"It was tough, I was used to playing every week and it was my first real experience of being out of the team for a prolonged period but hopefully I’ve seen the back of it now."

'I tried my best to be involved in the Irish Cup final'

Curran (top right in suit) had to watch on from the stands as Cliftonville ended their long wait for Irish Cup glory in May

Curran was forced to watch on from the stands as Cliftonville lifted the Irish Cup in May, ending a 45-year wait for the trophy.

He felt that the build-up to the decider was worse than the actual day, where Ronan Hale struck twice in extra-time to help the Reds beat Linfield 3-1.

"It was tough leading up to it rather than the actual day because I knew what I was missing out on. I was trying my best to get another injection to get back in the squad, but I knew it wasn’t realistic," he admitted.

"On the day I just became a fan and was immersed in it, what a day it was and what a way to win it."

The striker is now excited by the prospect of working with Jim Magilton and being involved in a squad which has had a large turnover of players since he last played.

"It’s almost a brand-new squad even from last year already but Jim has been brilliant with my injury, so I’m really looking forward to working with him as a player."

Curran is not setting many targets for the season, other to stay injury free and give Magilton another forward option which he needs.

Ben Wilson, Sam Ashford and Ronan Hale have all departed this summer, leaving Curran, Gormley and newly signed Rory Donnelly as the Reds' only strikers.

"I really want to build up my minutes, play as many games as possible and contribute to the team.

"Last year we were blessed with four top strikers, they scored a lot of goals and complemented each other really well," Curran added.

"At the minute we’re probably a bit light, but I do back myself if I can get back to the way I was playing that I can help, but I’m sure the club are looking to get another striker in and you welcome that competition."

'It's a tie we'll be looking to progress in'

Curran has been involved in a number of European games since joining Cliftonville in 2018

Having won the Irish Cup, Cliftonville enter the Uefa Conference League at the second qualifying round against Auda and Curran is thrilled at the prospect of potentially featuring after some good pre-season performances.

"I didn’t see myself being involved in the European games but I’m in a position now where I will play some part in them."

He is also hopeful the Reds can use home advantage to take a positive result to Riga for the away leg next week.

"It’s a tie we probably will look to progress in, we’ll do our homework as we didn’t know until last week who we would be playing but it is definitely a game we will look to win," Curran admitted.

"A European game here is brilliant we have been lucky enough to have four or five European ties and they’re always big occasions."