So is it possible to play with a broken leg?

AIDAN O’MAHONY’S remarkable feat in playing with his club Rathmore for almost 50 minutes after breaking a bone in his leg during last Sunday’s Kerry Club SFC final victory over Laune Rangers, was possible due to the fact that he had fractured his fibula rather than his tibia, according to Dr Con Murphy, long-time medical advisor to Cork GAA teams.

“It’s not impossible to play a match with a broken fibula. Now it takes great courage and determination to do that, and it certainly is painful, but a player can stay going in that instance. You wouldn’t be able to keep going if you’d fractured your tibia as that’s the main bone in your leg. The fibula is a skinny bone on the outside of your leg, which runs the whole length from the end of your ankle right up to your knee. There are two ways you can break your fibula. Firstly you can go over on your ankle, tear the ligaments and the fibula then breaks with it. Secondly a player can impact into your shin, on the outside of it, and that ends up cracking the fibula. In the latter case, players can manage to play on as it’s not a weight-bearing bone. But if you break it as a result of torn ankle ligaments, then it’s very hard to play on.”