Ciaron 'Jackie' Harkin talks to Simon Collins and Kevin McLaughlin about his ACL injury, recovery and his new Derry City contract.
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00:00 I'll take a few weeks off now. A week or two. I'm already a week in now. So I'll take another
00:04 week off now and I'll go away and then straight back at it before pre-season, try and get myself
00:08 ready so I can hit the ground running then pre-season hopefully. How has it been in terms
00:16 of your rehabilitation now? I know Rory was saying the other day, he could have had you back three
00:23 or four weeks ago, you know, where three or four games they go, but probably wasn't a sensible
00:28 approach with coming to the end of the season, get a good pre-season behind you now, everything seems
00:32 to see how it goes. Is that the plan? What's the plan in your head?
00:38 In my head during the season there, obviously after my last surgery, it was last October,
00:45 so in my head I was going to play this year. So after halfway through the season when I was
00:52 coming on, I was getting better and doing the rehab and things like that, I was thinking,
00:56 right I'm going to play this year, but then it just came to a stage where I started to slow down.
01:00 But obviously, Mickey Higgerty, it's up to him as well, he sees how I progress and it's up to him
01:06 really when I'm ready to play. But halfway through the season I thought maybe I could get a game this
01:12 year, but then we just had a chat and it was just, what was the point really, when obviously I was
01:18 coming out of contract and we started talking about them things. But it sort of made it tough
01:23 for me coming to the end of the season, knowing that I'm out of contract, not knowing what's going
01:26 to happen next year and knowing that I wasn't ready. You're talking about your coming back and
01:33 maybe trying to get games or whatever this season didn't work out. Last season you were in a similar
01:38 situation leading up to the cup final. How bad was it when you picked up the second injury again,
01:45 did you know straight away, oh no, this is me again? Ah well, at that time it's mad how
01:52 different the two years have been, the two seasons. Obviously I got injured in the second
01:56 game of the season last year and had a great pre-season. The first two games of the season
02:02 were Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers, so they don't get bigger than them. I was getting into them and
02:06 I was starting and I was feeling good. Then obviously I hit rock bottom and got injured.
02:12 But then as you say, coming into the end of the year, it was seven or eight months coming into
02:16 my rehab, feeling great. At the time when we were in the league, we were doing well,
02:23 everything was looking up and then it happens again. As I say, there was a cup final,
02:30 they looked forward to it and that was my goal. I see myself playing in the Viva with the boys,
02:37 obviously in that cup final I see myself making that, that was my goal and then it all happens
02:41 again. To be fair, I've been grand, being around the boys has helped. Obviously, them and Andy,
02:50 my family, everybody's helped me through it. But having it again, I've been there before,
02:57 I've just got on with it and I've got on every day and done my work. Now, I'm not speaking too
03:02 early like I did last year, but I'm over 12 months after my second surgery, so I'm a lot better off
03:10 this time and hopefully that can help come into pre-season now. That's what I was going to say,
03:15 because the second time surgery, Kevin, that happens mentally, you would expect it to be
03:20 tougher. Obviously, as you touched on there, because you have already gone through it,
03:26 you knew what to expect, you knew how long a process and how tough a process it is getting
03:32 back to full strength. So that made it a wee bit easier, is that right?
03:38 Not that I'm going to get... At the start, obviously, you're down at home, so you're like,
03:42 "Why me?" But then you just have to switch in, you're like, "Game on again." You have to go at
03:50 it again and you just have to get back on it. You can't feel sorry for yourself, you just have to
03:57 get on with it and get on and do your work. The last 12 months have really been a blur for me,
04:03 do you know what I mean? I'm here now and I know you'll get to the stage sometime. The next two
04:08 months might be a blur again for me, but there's going to be that day that I'll be on that patch
04:12 and it'll be all worth it then.