Eaten bread is soon forgotten. And no one, more than a top sportsperson, should be aware of that fact.
When the lights are switched off on an intercounty career, the players concerned have to get on with their own lives and focus on their careers and families. One chapter of their life is over, but another begins.
Michael Meehan has given terrific and admirable service to Galway senior football over the last 11 years and now his ankle is in dire straits, he needs to gives it every chance to get as right as it will get, and he needs to think strategically. Not for football alone, but for himself and his family and life ahead.
The fact that he has acknowledged that his injuries and surgery have done significant and probably irreparable damage to his ankle only highlights the personal cost he may have to pay over the next few decades.
If he gets back to top class football over the next year or two, all the better, but for now he needs to make his priority getting himself and his ankle right.
I know many former players who have lots of aches and creaks in ankles, hips and backs, and many of them never had any invasive surgery.
If Michael can get back to top level football, that is fantastic. If he cannot, he has served his school, club, college, and county with distinction, and we thank him for that.
