My injury nightmare is finally ending, says Derry City skipper Patrick McEleney

Derry City captain Patrick McEleney underwent surgery in Malmo

Derry City captain Patrick McEleney is hoping his injury problems are a thing of the past.

The 31-year-old, who started only 10 League games in the 2023 season, recently had a successful operation on both his Achilles tendons in Sweden.

“I was relieved to finally get the operation done,” he said.

“Loads of people were asking me if I was nervous going into it, but I was just desperate to get it done.

“To be honest ‘desperate’ would be the word, so I’m just glad it’s done now and I’m back.

“It was just a painful year all round. I couldn’t really train properly and I was just in agony playing all the time.

“People would have come to me and said, ‘You looked alright’ and, ‘You didn’t look as if you were in pain’, but obviously needing double surgery was the answer.”

The former Dundalk man admitted it wasn’t until his operation in Malmo that he found out the true extent of the issue, but he’s already started on the road to recovery and is looking forward to pre-season training.

“There was a bit of uncertainty because I knew I was in trouble with one of them and both were sore the whole time,” he explained.

“I went over and they scanned them and they told me that both of them were bad enough and they both needed to be fixed.

“That was the fear for me because I knew that the other one was going the same way. It needed to be fixed anyway so I was just glad that happened and I’m just happy now that it’s all done.

“It was straightforward and everything has been fine. I’ve actually been doing rehab for the last 10 days and hopefully I’ll be back running in the next couple of weeks.

“I can’t wait to get going now. I wasn’t able to train properly for a full year. It was