By Shaun Casey

IT’S a weary path that Aimee Mackin knows all about. The road to recovery has plenty of bumps and bruises along the way but the Shane O’Neill’s sharpshooter has experienced it all before and knows what it takes to get back on the field.

Last May, one week after Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh left Clones devastated having just suffered another penalty shootout defeat to Donegal in the Ulster final, the orange and white returned to the scene of the crime.

This time, it was the Armagh ladies who entered the St Tiernach’s Park arena to face Donegal with the intentions of wrestling back the Ulster title. Like the men’s final seven days previous, this was a hard-fought, nip and tuck battle.

Just after half time, with Armagh three points to the good, they lost their superstar forward Aimee Mackin. When Mackin fell inside the Donegal square and gingerly got back to her feet, everyone in the stadium knew something wasn’t right.

Back in July 2019, Mackin had torn her ACL in a championship clash with Cork. Five years on, she had that feeling again. A second cruciate injury is enough to make anyone wince, but Mackin is determined to get back once again.

“I’m about seven months post-op now so I’m back running, introducing change of direction and stuff like that so I’ll be back in March for testing and then I’ll know more after that. I’m just taking it step by step but it’s going as well as it can for now.”

After her first spell on the sidelines, Mackin came back to win the 2020 Player of the Year, but the scene of her rehab and recovery is much different this time around. “I know the journey; but this time it is a bit different,” Mackin added.

“The last time I was doing it was during Covid, so it felt like I wasn’t missing out on anything because by the time I came back everything was just starting up. I missed nothing in terms of games and matches during the season.

“It’s a lot harder this time around having to watch all matches. It was sort of a luxury the last time, just getting to train like a professional because there was nothing else that we could do in Covid.

“It’s a wee bit different sitting on the sidelines and watching on this time but I’m still glad that the girls are getting the wins in the league and they’re playing well at the minute so that’s all that matters.”

Recalling those days of training during Covid, Mackin continued: “In lockdown we were doing double sessions a day, I had the time to do that because I wasn’t working and so I was basically training like a full-time professional.

“We got the shed converted into a gym at that time, so I had everything I needed, and this time is definitely different especially with work, so I’m just doing everything in the evenings. It was a luxury in Covid doing everything during the day.

“It is what it is but it’s not too bad. I train on my own and you sort of get used to it after a while, so you enjoy it when you’re back in with the team.”

Mackin had plenty of company during the first few phases of her rehab. Lying on the treatment table beside her was her younger brother Ciaran, who suffered the same fate just a few days after.

Ciaran Mackin missed out on Armagh’s historic run in the All-Ireland series, where Armagh captured the Sam Maguire Cup for the second time ever, but he’s on the mend that wee bit quicker than Aimee and will be back sooner rather than later.

“It’s a good bit different now, he’s ahead of me and he’s probably closer to returning to contract training and I’ll probably have to take a wee bit longer because it’s my second time,” explained the three-time All-Star.

“He’s going well too to be fair to him. We sort of just talk about it and what stage we’re at or what rehab we’re doing but no he’s completely separate from me at this stage, he’s on a different timeframe than me.”

The Mackin siblings had to watch on as McGeeney’s men marched through the championship to topple all before them. But there were plenty of connections on the field of play, including their older brother Connaire.

Connaire Mackin had been in and out of the team but was selected at wing-back for the final, his size and combative nature a perfect fit for the Galway forward line.

“I think my dad’s still watching the final back,” laughed Aimee. “It’s unreal, I think when you’re young and you’re starting out you just dream of days like that. I suppose for us in Armagh, we hadn’t experienced it too many times.

“To have our own boys playing and involved and a lot of the Camlough people like Greg (McCabe) and Blaine (Hughes), we knew so many on the panel which it was a wee bit different because in ’02, I was only five and I don’t really remember it, but you just loved that group of players.

“Whereas this time around, to actually have a connection with the group of players, it was brilliant to see them do it.

“We’ll all definitely hope to go again and maybe with the boys or the girls, but you want that success again once you get it once.”

Seeing Aidan Forker and the Armagh team climb the steps of the Hogan Stand has only whet the appetite. That’s where the ladies want to get to and they’re heading in the right direction. They’re closer than ever.

Armagh lost last year’s All-Ireland semi-final to Kerry by four points, without the injured Aimee Mackin, and the Kingdom went on to hammer Galway in the decider. Perhaps the men have shown the way, and now the ladies are eager to follow.

“I suppose you have to take something from it. Every year, you go into every competition, and you want to win it whether it’s the league, Ulster or the All-Ireland. We’re there or thereabouts with the top teams but I suppose it’s about getting over the line.

“The men did it and you could nearly tell maybe a couple of weeks before that, the momentum they had and how they were playing, there was something about it.

“You could just tell they were different, and we want to get that for ourselves, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of momentum at the right time of year so that’s what we’re trying to get.”

There’s no All-Irelands won in February but Mackin and the entire Armagh fanbase can take pride in their teams. The mood is good around the Orchard County, given Armagh’s dismissal of Tyrone in round two of the National League.

The ladies, the reigning Division One champions, have flown out of the traps in the league, exacting revenge against Kerry before beating Tyrone in round two. Armagh football is in a brilliant place at the minute.

“I think I said it before last year in the league final, we’re not the biggest county but when you see the support we get both ladies’ and men’s games, we’re a wee county that loves football and I think that’s the big thing,” Mackin explained.

“You see all the young ones and what they take from it when we get that success, we’re competing with the likes of Dublin and Kerry who are massive counties with massive populations.

“For us to be there, you want to stay where you are, and I suppose it’s up to the next generation to keep producing players and putting the systems in place for the younger ones coming through and that’s where we want to be and that’s where we want to stay.”