How Podge Collins helped hockey star Naomi Carroll conquer cruciate trauma

While it was far from a standard road to recovery, some big performances for Catholic Institute paved the way for a recall from Sean Dancer

Naomi Carroll and Podge Collins: Team-mates at Cratloe until age 16. ‘If we could have kept her past 16, we would have,’ says Collins.

Naomi Carroll is relishing her return to the Irish women’s squad for the European Championship in Amsterdam after a long and winding road, waiting in the wings since July 2018.

Named as one of the non-travelling reserves for the World Cup, the multi-talented Cratloe native subsequently suffered an ACL injury while on Clare Gaelic football duty, putting her out of action for close on a year.

It left her wondering would she get a chance again for the Green Army but a chance encounter with Banner dual star Podge Collins helped get her perspective back in check.

And while it was far from a standard road to recovery, a successful introduction to indoor hockey and some big performances for Catholic Institute paved the way for a recall from Sean Dancer to try out once again.

But no sooner had she got an invitation to join a touring party to South Africa in the spring of 2020 than Covid came along and set the process back once again.

A new year, though, and a new promise has her buzzing for the challenge ahead having played a full-part in this year’s programme.

“It crossed my mind I might not get this chance again,” she said of returning to the fold. “You hope to come back… then come back fit but there was a new coach and you don’t know if he sees something in you that he likes and values.

“When I did get the phone call from Sean, it totally reenergised me.”

It is a far cry from her feelings during her recuperation when she wondered whether she had the motivation to rise again after the World Cup exclusion after 111 caps in green.

Naomi Carroll: Having overcome her cruciate injury, she has been named in the Irish women’s hockey squad for the European Championship in Amsterdam.

“To be honest it was heart-breaking, it was really tough,” she said of that time. “I had trained for so long and it’s something I had been working towards, so to get that disappointment, it’s hard,” she said in 2019, admitting it was tough to marry her disappointment with how proud she was of her team mates.

“I felt like I had let my friends and family down. I had tried really hard to make the squad and so much goes through your head like ‘am I just not good enough?’”

The plan was to throw herself straight back into GAA but her first game back with Clare ended in disaster as a seemingly innocuous side-step left her with the dreaded cruciate gone.

To compound matters, her first surgery was delayed.

I just thought I actually don’t care anymore, everything is just going wrong, what’s the point in even trying?

It left her contemplating skipping her prehab but, thankfully, dragged herself to her club gym where serendipity intervened and she happened on her old friend, Clare All-Ireland winner Podge Collins.

The pair had grown up together as part of all-star Cratloe teams, playing hurling and football up to Under-16 level when county rules meant Carroll had to stop playing with the boys.

Collins says she would have easily played beyond that level had it been allowed.

“I remember one occasion I was corner forward, Conor McGrath was full-forward and Naomi was in the other corner. She scored 1-4 or 2-4 in a final and pretty much won it for us.

“If we could have kept her past 16, we would have. It wasn’t a case of the game getting too physical. That was no was an issue, she was smart. We definitely could have used her at minor!”

Collins had been through ACL trauma himself, the county dual star hearing a snap in May 2015 that put paid to a year of his prime. Carroll credits their chat as the catalyst to her change in mindset.

“When he first did his cruciate, he dropped into my house looking for a [bicycle]. I asked him was he even allowed be out of the house!

“He said you have the time now to work on things you would have considered weaknesses. When you come back, you can come back faster, stronger, fitter.

Take things day by day, don’t see the end goal at all. Just take it bit by bit to focus on other things. At the start, there is loads of time.

“So I spent more time with my family, more time to do things [outside of sport]. I went to India with the Hope Foundation. Some people struggle to come back but I knew if I backed myself, I wouldn’t — touch wood — have many issues.”

Collins, for his part, downplays his role, saying he never really doubted Carroll would get back on track.

“It is something that can be hard to come back from but she was so dedicated, it was never going to be an issue.

“I told her that the physios and the doctors will give you the best advice but, in my own case, the plyometrics were crucial, getting back bounding as quick as you can, hopping over a shoe or something as simple as that.”

It struck a strong enough chord and Carroll returned to sport with only limited trepidation.

“The only fear I had was my very first training session with contact; it was a camogie session. I said to myself after that ‘I played through my first knock’, it’s as good if not better than my other one.

“I was as strong as I possibly could be after all the gym work. There’s no point going into anything with fear once I backed myself. When the physio gave me the all clear, I knew I was 100% ready.

“I’ve loved it since being back in. Being injured gives you more perspective that you don’t take things for granted and appreciate every single training session, every opportunity to play.

I am delighted to have the chance and have loved every minute.