‘Jackie’ to return to Derry midfield at long last

Derry City fans will celebrate the return of Ciaron Harkin as they would celebrate a goal when the midfielder eventually does make his return this season.

Harkin has been heavily involved in pre-season, and while he has had no competitive minutes on the pitch yet, every day he gets closer and closer to a return.

Harkin’s injury hell began just two days into the 2022 season when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during a game against Shamrock Rovers at the Brandywell. A long period of rehabilitation followed, but to his disbelief and frustration, he then suffered the same injury for a second time in September 2022, ruling him out for another year of his career.

It is therefore no surprise that every precaution is being taken ahead of his eventual return to action.

“I was probably playing the best football that I’ve played, and it just came at the wrong time, so I’m just hoping to get back to that and hoping to get back to my best,” he said.

“I’ve had a long two years and I’ve been missing the games so I’m looking forward to getting back. I’m in a good place now so hopefully I can keep pushing on and get back on the pitch very soon.

“I’ve been doing my rehab and I’ve been doing all the work I need to do with Mickey Hegarty and Kevin McCreadie and I’m on the right road, and I’m just hoping I can get back on the pitch and get my fitness back up and game fitness and hopefully I can have a good year.”

Harkin was looking forward to celebrating a century with the Candystripes when he suffered his first injury, meaning he has now been on the verge of completing the milestone of a century with his local team for some time.

“Playing 100 times for Derry City is a dream for me; playing one match for Derry City is a dream for me,” he explained. “Obviously, I’ve had a bad two years but it just makes everything better now and I’m really looking forward to it.

“It does mean everything to me, but having those two years out, it has shown me that there are other things as well, and now I need to look after myself, and when I go out onto that pitch again and get that opportunity, I have to look after myself. It’s just about getting myself ready and hopefully doing the job in the long run.”

“It might be a slow process with getting minutes here and minutes there but I’m looking forward to it and I can’t wait to hit the ground running.”

Patience

Harkin has watched on as his team mates have won the FAI Cup, gone on a memorable European adventure and finished second place on two occasions. He has remained very much a part of the squad however, so much so that he recently signed a new deal at the club, such is his value to the squad in his manager’s eyes.

“I know there’s no good time to get injured, but for me it didn’t come at a good time. I had a very good season before that and a good pre-season, but I’m 28, I still have a lot of years left and I still feel like I have a big part to play,” he continued.

Ciaron Harkin has missed the last two seasons with injury. (Photo: Ben McShane / SPORTSFILE)

“There’s obviously a lot of competition this year. It’s obviously been frustrating that I haven’t been able to go out and help, and there are players with great quality here, but the league is getting very competitive. A lot of teams are getting better and there will be a lot of teams up there challenging, so we just have to look after ourselves. We have the quality here to get wins, so we just have to take each game as it comes and hopefully, we can do that and we’ll be in a good place.”

It is unlikely to be tomorrow against Drogheda United, but Harkin, all being well, will make his return sooner rather than later. He, like the Derry City medical staff and management, are eager to make sure everything is 100% when that time comes.

“It has been longer this time,” Harkin acknowledged. “At the start, when I redone it, it was, okay, it’ll take a wee bit longer this time, but I wasn’t planning to take this long. The reason it has been this long was just because of how the season went and the time frame for my rehab coming to the end of the season, there was no point rushing in and playing games when I could have a good off-season and then a good pre-season under my belt, so now, coming to the start of the season I’m in a good place and obviously hoping to play games before we start back.”

“When the season does start, it will be a slow process,” he cautioned. “I’ll not be going in 100 miles per hour, but I’m feeling good. I’m really looking forward to it and I can’t wait to get back out on the Brandywell.”