KARL McKaigue said that he feels good about his return to action after a long year away from on-field action.

The Derry defender missed the entire Covid-19 season through injury, but is hoping that he can return to the field of play very soon.

“I am feeling good at the moment. I had my surgery in the first week of August. So I am around that eight-month mark. If you are looking at Achilles’ ruptures with surgery, you are never really back before nine months. It is usually nine to 12 months. I am on track at the moment.

“I will not know where I am till training starts back up again, but I am feeling good so far.”

McKaigue ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in the first game of the club hurling championship last year. That injury ruled him out for the entire season.

He spent a year away from action. He watched on as Sleacht Néill won back the Senior Football title and collected  their eighth Senior Hurling Championship in-a-row.  He was also not involved in Derry’s Ulster Championship loss to Armagh.

“I am only at the latter stages of rehab at this stage. My preparation is going to look a lot different than everyone else’s at the moment.”

It will also be different because McKaigue is a trained physiotherapist, so he understands better than most players about what he has to do to get himself ready for the new season.

“Gaelic football is a hugely demanding sport, and if you haven’t prepared your body enough through that latter stage of rehab you are going to have a greater chance of an injury recurring, so that is probably the big thing. You have to be able to progress yourself slowly through the early and mid stages, but the latter stages of the rehab should be as intense if not more intense than the game you are returning.”

McKaigue is determined to be right when he comes back. He said that it was a huge blow  to be out for the whole club campaign last year.

The 28-year-old said that his history with injuries has been good, in that he’s not had much trouble with injuries and not missed too many games. But last year was a lot different.

“It was devastating,” he said.

“It was particularly  unfortunate to get two injuries in-a-row. We got beat by Ballyhale in the hurling and then I was back out training with Derry for the league. But I damaged ligaments in my ankle and that ruled me out of the first few National League games. Then after the fourth league game the whole thing was stopped because of Covid.

“Then I just rehabbed myself with that time off. When the club season started back for club, in the first game back I did my Achilles’. It was disappointing to miss the whole year.

“With Derry I only missed one championship match, and with the club there was no Ulster Club so I didn’t miss out on that. So maybe it wasn’t the worst year to miss. But at the same time you don’t want to miss any games at all.”

He said that he found it hard watching on from the sidelines.

“From a selfishness point of view I was gutted to miss out, but I was happy to see team-mates that I have played with all my life do well and winning.”

He got surgery on his Achilles’ and then spent time wearing a cast. Then he wore a weight-bearing boot. For the first 10  weeks he wasn’t walking properly. He had to use crutches to move around. When he got out of that then had to learn to walk again.

“You have to build yourself back up and try to undo some of the effects of not putting weight on your foot.”

It is at the stage when he gradually returned to action that his experience of working in physiotherapy stood to him, so to speak. He was better educated to know how to handle his rehabilitation properly.

“The early stages  are always very slow and you have to be cautious. With surgeries the chances of getting an infection are greater.

“As things progress then you can get more gym work done and eventually you can get back to some sort of running.”

Peter Hughes is the Derry strength and conditioning coach, and while McKaigue can work out his own rehab he said that he worked with  Hughes  during the rehab.

“No one physio will know everything. It is always good practice to get a second or third opinion. Different physios will have different experiences, and different patients. You can speak with someone else and try and get the best plan drawn up and try to progress things.”