SEAN Brady would love to be still soldiering with his beloved Ballymaguigan – but a serious hand injury ended his playing career and he’s moved into the world of management, where he’ll lead the line at Drumsurn this season.

The 35-year-old’s hand was crushed following a forklift accident in August 2019, but initially he thought it was just a broken wrist and that a few weeks spent in a cast would sort the matter.

However, he was rushed to emergency surgery in the Royal Victoria when it became apparent that this was a serious, serious injury, and he spent six hours under the knife on what was diagnosed as a carpal bone/wrist lunate dislocation with damage of the ulnar nerve.

Brady, who played for the ‘Underdogs’ as part of the TG4 show of the same name in 2018, had to undergo two more operations since then, including a wrist fusion which he says has left his damaged right hand as something akin to ‘a claw’.

>It’s had a massively detrimental impact on his day-to-day life; not only was he forced into early retirement, but he hasn’t been able to work.

However, he has a fairly philosophical attitude towards the whole thing – he envisions a career change where he can work as a delivery driver or something similar, while running has helped him to keep active.

“I was devastated when the injury happened, and it definitely took me a while to get used to not playing football as my own club (Ballymaguigan) is struggling with numbers at the moment.

“I’ve good and bad days – my young lad’s play hurling and I can’t go out and play with them anymore because I don’t have the rotation in my wrist.

“I’ve got the wrist fusion done and that’s all the operations done, but I still can’t put any pressure on the hand so I can’t do press-ups or anything like that.

“It’s unfortunate because I’m massively into sport – I even played bowls believe it or not and I can’t do that anymore.

“I joined a running club in October and didn’t think I’d stick at it, but I got addicted. Outside of coaching it’s the only thing I can really do, and it keeps my mental health right.”

Even though the internal damage was massive, the hand still looked recognisable so Brady thought it wasn’t anything too serious. He was disabused of those notions when he was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

“It’s just unfortunate and it was a freak accident. I remember when it happened I thought I’d be fit to get back playing, but I remember when I was rushed to the Royal, a lady said ‘do you know how bad this is? You can forget about sport, we’re just trying to get you back fit to do some sort of work’. I’ll remember that to the day I die.

“The surgery itself was meant to take one hour, but it ended up taking six, they didn’t realise themselves how bad it was until they opened it up. Right from my wrist up to my knuckles, every bone was smashed, and ligaments and nerves were a mess.

“I couldn’t move my fingers and thought it was just because of my wrist and I didn’t want to think anything was badly wrong.

“I had to sleep with my arm up  at a 45 degree angle for six months, with my arm slipped in a sling.

“There’s no power on it, the most I can lift on that hand is 8kg comfortable, the other hand about 25kg, but you just have to learn to adapt.”

Brady, who is strongly associated with the Ballymaguigan club where he spent his playing days, is looking forward to the challenge at Drumsurn. Their previous manager Declan Toner was on the line for the last five years, taking the club to a number of Intermediate semi-finals. Brady hopes he can carry on their good progress, but admits that it’s a strange sensation being away from his native club.

“Declan did a good job and in fairness they have potential. They’re definitely knocking on the door and hopefully I can bring my experience of winning championships with my own club to help get them over the line.

“I was still in the WhatsApp group last year at Ballymaguigan as the management team kept me involved, I did a bit of training. But it’s funny, once you’re out you’re out, and I’d nearly hear more from the Drumsurn players than the Ballymaguigan players at the moment. That’s probably the hardest thing to take – the pubs and all are all closed so contact is very limited.”

Brady loves his club dearly, but also said that if Drumsurn happen to draw Ballymaguigan in the championship, he won’t shirk the challenge.

“I know we’re not in the same league but we’re in the same championship.

“I don’t  believe in avoiding those games. I’ve given Drumsurn my commitment and if they draw Ballymaguigan in the championship, I’ll be on the sideline.

“I’m still a Ballymaguigan  man but on that day I’d be there to help Drumsurn, Believe me it’d not be easy but for that day I’d be standing on the line.  I hope it doesn’t happen because I’ve so many ties to Ballymaguigan, but if it does I know I’ll still have a job to do.”