Kevin Flahive on coming to terms with ACL tear, Cork camp and Limerick test

The cold reality of being done for the year is only now hitting Flahive

Kevin Flahive of Cork leaves the pitch after the Allianz Football League Division 2 match between Meath and Cork at Páirc Táilteann in Navan, Meath. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Five weeks on from his season-ending injury, the cold reality of being done for the year is only now hitting Kevin Flahive.

The corner-back ambled down to Cork football training on Tuesday evening, more for the sense of connection and routine than anything else. But as he sat on a bench looking out at his friends and teammates preparing for a last 12 qualifier and the chance to secure All-Ireland quarter-final involvement, Flahive’s peripheral status came at him like a perfectly timed shoulder from a lurking and unsighted forward.

We won’t say it rattled him, but he was certainly no better for the realisation that another nine months have to pass before he’s back out on the field with those same players limbering up for big championship days in red.

From policing David Clifford to extended panel member, the 26-year-old cruciate victim will watch Sunday's second-round qualifier (RTE 2, 1.30 thrown-in) against Limerick with the rest of the Cork crew not part of the matchday 26.

That he’s ready this weekend to be in and amongst the panel on matchday is a step forward on last Saturday's qualifier against Louth, Flahive choosing to keep a small bit of distance between himself and the set-up he’s no longer in a position to wear the number four jersey for by sitting with his brother in the South stand.

“I just needed to let things set in,” he said of his first day out as a spectator. “It was of course tough watching on, knowing you could be out there.” Flahive featured in all seven of Cork’s League outings this spring, starting at either corner or full-back in all bar one. Come championship, he was entrusted with shadowing David Clifford.

The Cork defender’s stats from the Munster semi-final are nothing out of the ordinary, outside of the fact that he didn’t concede a single free while policing the three-time All-Star, but turn the page to Kerry and you quickly see that neither are Clifford’s.

The latter kicked just one point from play across the 70-plus minutes and had not a single assist, with interim Cork manager John Cleary describing Flahive’s performance as “heroic” during the post-match interviews.

By that point in the evening, the Cork defender was in a state of worrying flux. He knew his left knee was in serious bother after the injury incurred late on. How serious, though, he was not sure.

A scan early the following week realised his worst fears. ACL tear. Season over. Minimum nine-month rehab.

He went under the knife a week later, but now that surgery is out of the way and the crutches have been dispensed with, the long road ahead - one that will not include a moment’s football until late spring/early summer of 2023 - is really starting to hit home.

From shadowing David Clifford to spectating above in the South stand is by no means a straightforward adjustment.

“Would you believe it is only more hitting me now that I’m done for the year than it was initially. I feel it is like what happens to fellas when they retire or are cut from a panel, it is almost as extreme as that because you are on the high of a big Munster championship game and then, all of a sudden, you are gone,” Flahive explains.

“It is very tough to come to terms with that and now that I am at home on study leave (for accountancy exams), you have the complete lifestyle change of not even working or training.

“Covid gave me a slight eye-opener anyway in terms of life outside inter-county. That is almost what it is going to be like for the next year.

“When you are injured for a sustained period of time, you almost think, what value do you have yourself. It definitely gave me a big boost that the lads got the win against Louth. If things had gone wrong, you would have been saying to yourself, could I have helped out if I was there.” 

But helping out he continues to do, even if not in the familiar guise of frustrating the opposition’s most dangerous inside forward. Flahive kicked ball over in America a couple of summers back with some of the Limerick players and so has been in touch with his defensive colleagues this week to pass on the odd bit of info.

“One of my very good buddies is Cian Sheehan. You have the likes of Hugh Bourke, Brian Donovan, and Killian Ryan too, all very good guys.

“I was talking to one of the Limerick lads before the draw and he was saying, they'd only be delighted to draw us. Both teams are happy with the draw, both teams fully think they can beat the other.

“It is going to be an absolute battle, but if we outwork them, I think that will be the key to getting a victory and then you'd be there on All-Ireland quarter-final day, which is exactly where everyone wants to play.” 

That Cork stand on the precipice of only the county’s second All-Ireland quarter-final appearance since 2014 is some distance removed from a League campaign mired by player turnover, a seemingly never-ending injury count, and only one point from their first five games.

“When everything rains, it pours,” Flahive says of their spring. “We had a new management in and a big turnover of players. That's not making excuses but sometimes these things take time.

“It was so important we got the win against Louth and it would be fantastic if we could follow that with another win.

“The buzz around the camp is very good, the lads are really lifting.” 

Just a pity for Flahive’s sake that he’s on the outside looking in.