Former Meath captain and full-back Kevin Reilly announced his retirement today at the relatively young age of 29. He said he had fulfilled his boyhood dream in captaining Meath from full back but reported that he was announcing retirement at a young age on account of the disastrous number of injuries he had suffered over the years.
I feel compelled to explain my reasons for retiring at 29 years old. Some might say what should have been the prime of my career. Persistent and serious injury has led me to call time on my inter-county playing days.
This one I cannot come back from. Three surgeries, my back, hip and Achilles tendon, bulging discs, frequent hamstring, quad and hip flexor tears, broken arm, foot, nose, fingers and vertebrae, chronic tendonitis and cartilage damage in knees, shoulders and Achilles tendon have all taken their toll on my body.
But it has been the hip injury I suffered in the 2014 Leinster Final that has brought my career to a premature end.
About 15 mins into the game I felt a sharp pain in my hip after a change of direction. Immediately, I knew there was something serious up. I carried on unable to change direction for the rest of the game. The next day I went for a scan for it to reveal the start of an ongoing nightmare. A grade 2 hip flexor - a grand, labal cartilage tear - not so good, and chronic degeneration of the hip joint - disaster!
In the following weeks, I met with two hip specialists who both agreed that my time playing inter-county football was coming to an end. The first guy asked 'how long are you playing football?' and then followed it up with 'You wont be playing for much longer.
Reilly played on the successful Ireland international rules team of 2011 and he won a Leinster title in 2010. He was also the scorer of possibly the most insane goal ever scored in the All-Ireland football championship against Wicklow in Aughrim in 2013.
