Wexford hurler Conor McDonald shares biggest advice for dealing with serious injuries

Wexford Senior hurler, Conor McDonald, was the most recent guest on the new GAA podcast, Humans of Gaelic Games…

Naomh Eanna clubman, Conor McDonald, is now into his 12th season playing with the Wexford Senior hurling team, after making his Senior hurling debut at just 17 years of age against Clare back in 2013.

On the podcast, McDonald opened up about his back injury – one of the most serious injuries he has had over his whole playing career. Since making his debut, McDonald has become one of the first names on the team-sheet.

However, his back injury was one that kept the 29-year-old out for the start of the Allianz League campaign and out of the Wexford starting team for the first time in a long time.

On the podcast, he spoke about his desire to get back onto the pitch, but how he needed to balance that with just simply getting his body right.

“I quickly realised that you need to get hurling out of your head. I remember talking to Lee Chin and he said, ‘you need to stop thinking about hurling – and just get yourself right’. I spoke to Melissa, my partner, on a couple of occasions at that time. Speaking to people on the street, they would be asking when are you back training or are you back playing pre-season – the usual… but you’re just so far removed from that because you’re in so much pain.”

“I quickly realised then that it’s also about being able to walk down the stairs properly – or being able to lift up my daughter from her cot. They are the wins like. They’re the positive things that you want to get right before you should think about putting on your boots or your helmet again. Once I got to that stage, whether we like it or not – even at the off season, hurling is still a huge part of your life. Every decision you make, your lifestyle decisions, are always ticking in the back of your head – and it’s getting more and more that way with the demands. That was the biggest thing I learned. To park it. And really park it when you’ve something serious going on.”

“Because it really did affect all aspects of my life, whether it was work, relationships or home. Your just constantly from one side keeled over, then you’re fine, then it’s affecting your mood. But once you park away something and just focus on getting your body right. It worked for me because I was able to get back thankfully. Park it and revisit it if you’re body gets right,” Conor McDonald said.

Along with that, he spoke about how he deals with defeat, burnout as a player, and his mentality as a 17 year old when he first broke onto the scene.

The full podcast can be listened to on YouTube here.