Sean Russell: 'You do miss playing, but you do try to stay positive when you set goals and targets'

The 29th of March is a date that will live long in the memory for Limerick’s Sean Russell – for all the wrong reasons.

Russell was stretchered off during the Super Blues two-nil win over Athlone with a season-ending ligament injury.

While the pain of injury was hard to deal with, the former UCD star’s woes were compounded when he was soon informed that his club, Limerick FC, were unable to foot the bill of his treatment costs.

The 25-year-old appeared on the Extratime.ie Sportscast this week – where he emphasised his recent plight which has seen him have to deal with plenty of issues on his own.  

“I had a multiple ligament injury and I also had some hamstring damage, so it was quite a tough one to deal with at the start.

“Since then it has gone on. It has affected my life big time. I was living in Limerick and I had a full-time job which I just started at the start of pre-season.

“I wasn’t a pro there, so I had to work a full-time job while I was there. I was on a six-month probation and I had two months without work with the injury that I had lost out on pay.

“Halfway through, I had to move back to Dublin because it mentally took its toll on me. It wasn’t the right environment to be in, so I quit a job there to come back and be with my family and work part-time.

“I’m now starting a new job while I’m concentrating on a course and hopefully, I’ll start my surgery in a few months which means that I’ll be out of work again and I won’t be paid so it is affecting my all round life.    

With this being the first time Russell has been out of action for an extended spell, he added; “It’s tough. It’s extremely tough to be honest with you.



“I’m an amateur this year but for the previous eight years I was a professional. But, I’m at the age now where I need to start working full-time.

“It’s been really hard as it’s the longest time I’ve been out for as long as I can remember over the past five months.

“You do miss playing, but you do try to stay positive when you set goals and targets. I had no physio at the start in Limerick but fortunately I have a fantastic physio now that has reached out to me in Dave Clancy who has been amazing for me.

“Generally, when you get a long-term injury, it’s tough enough with all the care possible so yea it has been really tough.”

You can listen to the interview in full below, while you can also donate towards Sean’s recovery fund that has been set up in recent days here.