The road to recovery starts now – those are the encouraging words of injured Cork footballer Brian Hurley who underwent surgery on his ruptured hamstring in London on Tuesday.
BY KIERAN McCARTHY
THE road to recovery starts now – those are the encouraging words of injured Cork footballer Brian Hurley who underwent surgery on his ruptured hamstring in London on Tuesday.
The Castlehaven forward told The Southern Star on Wednesday that the two and a half hour operation went very well, that the tendon was repaired and the surrounding nerves were manipulated successfully.
Hurley added that Professor Fares Haddad, who operated on him, was happy with how the procedure went.
The Cork forward (25), who landed home on Wednesday afternoon, was accompanied to London by team doctor Aidan Kelleher, and Hurley is very grateful for all the support that he has received, especially from the Cork County Board and his employers, Abco Kovex.
The 25-year-old is now starting his recovery as he plots a route back from a second serious hamstring injury that has ruled him out of football for 12 months.
Last June, Hurley ripped his right hamstring off the bone during a training session with Cork – an injury that ended his 2016 season.
On the comeback trail this year, Hurley was stepping up his recovery when he again ruptured the same hamstring injury during a league game for Castlehaven against Ballingeary on March 12th.
Subsequent scans showed that he had again severely damaged the same hamstring that was originally injured last summer.
With his football career on the line, Hurley has admitted that there are no guarantees that he will play again but looking to explore all options, he travelled to London in search of a second opinion. While he had been advised against another operation on his right hamstring due to its poor condition and the damage that could cause, Professor Fares Haddad – the same consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon who has previously operated on Paul O’Connell –told Hurley that he was willing to operate on him and that there was enough muscle to work on.
Hurley decided undergoing the operation was a better option than the natural heal, which had originally been the plan.
He is still facing 12 months on the sideline.
