Sweet Jesus don’t look at this if you’re planning on having lunch any time soon.
One of the cruelest things that can happen to a young GAA star is to be robbed by injury of his summer playing sport.
For some people it’s a tear to the cruciate ligament or damaging their shoulders in some way, but for 19-year-old Cian O’Reilly from Clare, it was far more gruesome than that.
While competing for a ball, he got his hand caught in an awkward position and by a pure freak accident, the ball ended up dislocating both the bone and tendon in his finger.
His father was photographing the match that day and managed to capture the innocuous-looking moment in a photo sequence.
So here Cian is going for the ball…
“I can get this, just got to get the hand in.”
“OK, he’s got it, but I can still make a tackle.”
“Make the tackle, make the tackle.”
“Shit, he got away. My hand feels a little funny though.”
“Yep, definitely feel something funny with my hand.”
Cian, who comes from Michael Cusacks GAA club in Clare, has had two surgeries on his finger since the injury occurred, and while it has improved greatly, the doctors are unsure if it will ever fully recover to its pre-injury levels.
*Warning, this photo is not for the squeamish*
“SHIT!!!!”
Cian had great plans of working for the summer to make some money for when he returns to college in Galway in September, unfortunately for him, the jobs he had in mind revolved around being a waiter or a barman.
All jobs which require the use of both hands…
He’s on the lookout for a job which he can do which only needs one good hand, know anybody that can help a guy out?
This is a photo of the finger following surgery…
Here’s what it looks like now…
