'I'd be available for selection now' - Mattie Donnelly on recovering from career-threatening injury

The pain was searing, the hamstring in tatters, the tendon wrenched fully off the bone.

The whispers were gathering in volume and momentum: "Will he ever kick a football again?"

Six months on Mattie Donnelly is back.

"If we had a game this weekend I'd be available for selection," he reflects.

"The work I've done under (physio) Louis O'Connor and (strength and conditioning coach) Jonny Davis has given me great confidence, and they're happy with the path I'm on.

"I've met the tests and metrics they set, so I'm happy too."

Of course it's only in the white heat of competitive football that Tyrone's captain will truly test the reconstructed hamstring.

After all that is where the tendon avulsion occurred while playing for his club Trillick, chasing a provincial semi-final.

Donnelly has enjoyed an esteemed inter-county career to date, collecting two All-Stars

I do not pretend to know the double All-Star very well, I doubt many do, but by way of providing an insight into what I believe sets him apart, I offer the following vignette:

The injury he sustained is uncommon, the pain is said to be both exquisite and excruciating. Having left the field of play that day, Trillick's talisman re-entered the fray against Derrygonnelly, late in the game.

That is akin to returning to battle shorn of sword and shield. And stripped of breastplate. That is Mattie Donnelly.

He made four plays in extra time, on the final one his leg gave way again.

"Had you taken a pain killing injection?"

"No I self diagnosed, thought it was nerve damage, in hindsight I wouldn't have gone back on but I don't regret it, I felt I could contribute."

They lost on penalties, one journey over, another about to begin.

'I'm outperforming my 2019 fitness levels'

Late November 2019, London, professor Fares Haddad of Princess Grace Hospital had assessed the scans and said he could help.

"To be blunt no-one on these shores was prepared to take it on, I researched the injury and surgery offered the best hope of playing again.

"I was in the hands of a world expert, he had operated on Andy Murray and has since operated on Harry Kane."

An accountant by profession, as an accident of geography Mattie Donnelly and I shared the same gym for a time just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scaffolded in a heavy leg brace he methodically went about rebuilding his body. It was rehabilitation by rote, about as repetitive and appealing as completing end of financial year tax returns. The results were impressive.

"I'm now outperforming my pre-injury fitness tests and metrics," Donnelly says.

"I would have been putting my hand up for the game against Donegal which was initially scheduled for mid-May, whether or not management would have picked me is another matter".

The imperfect prospect of playing behind closed doors

Itching to play again but possessed of perspective, in common with so many elite sportsmen and women, the Tyrone captain gets that the only race that truly matters is the one to find a coronavirus vaccine.

"The injury has given me a hardened outlook, I'm well prepared if there's no football this year and ready if there is but if it endangered just one life that sport is back too soon, then it's not worth it".

"One final thought from me," I venture.

"Would you take playing behind closed doors or in front of significantly reduced numbers of fans, would it be surreal?"

The midfielder momentarily pauses like he might do to scan the horizon before picking an inch perfect pass.

"Would it be surreal? Yes. Would it be ideal no. Would I take it? I would, but only on the premise that it's 100% safe, for everyone."

By my reckoning Mickey Harte over his long tenure in charge of Tyrone has appointed six permanent captains. Peter Canavan, the late Cormac McAnallen, Brian Dooher, Stephen O'Neill and Sean Cavanagh.

Mattie Donnelly completes that illustrious sextet. From the brief but privileged window I have had into his world, it is pretty easy to see why.