For many athletes who suffer a serious injury, the recovery process can be a long one with both physical and mental challenges. The long hours spent alone in the gym or at home can be demoralising but Munster No.8 Jack O’Donoghue decided he was not going to go down that path. The 24-year-old suffered damage to both his Medial collateral ligament (MCL) and Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after his knee got trapped in a ruck during Munster’s Guinness PRO14 semi-final against Leinster last May. The immediate signs were not good and O’Donoghue knew he would face a prolonged period on the sidelines. But as well as throwing himself into his recovery, he also chose to enrol in a Master’s course at Limerick University. Munster tracked his recovery and his path back in a video, giving fans the chance to follow O’Donoghue’s rehab. And when it came to the Master’s course, he explained: “I have time on my hands these next few months. “I’ve always had ambitions to do it but when this opportunity came up, I took it as it was a chance to keep myself busy. When you go home, you don’t just want to be sitting around. “It’s a good opportunity to try and get a Master’s done. I’m pretty excited about going back. It’s a challenge but something I’m looking forward to it.” He spent the remaining time working on improving his game ahead of his return, extra sessions in the gym spent working on becoming a better athlete by increasing upper body strength and decreasing overall fat mass. He prioritised improving his high catching as he looked to vary his workload as much as possible. Following his recovery, he said: “Credit to PJ (Munster strength and conditioning coach PJ Wilson) for being able to identify when times were down. “He has an ability to be able to put a fun swing on things. Just changing it up was massive. It does help when you’re changing it up, so it doesn’t just feel like the same thing day in, day out. “It really makes the rehabilitation that bit easier. Looking back, it certainly helped me. “We did have some heated arguments but at the end of the day, there was no love lost. For me, I can’t thank the support staff enough for getting me back out on the pitch in this condition. “Once I stepped across the white line, there were no doubts in my mind. It was an extremely tough nine months but the support network I had around me enabled me to get through it.” The Munster man made his first start since the injury in March and returns just in time to help his side in the upcoming Guinness PRO14 Final Series. After last year’s knock-out campaign was cruelly cut short, O’Donoghue has every intention of making up for lost time in 2019.
