Armagh midfielder Ciarán Mackin spoke of his pride at overcoming his injury hell after making his return in Saturday's high-scoring Ulster quarter-final win over Fermanagh in Enniskillen.
The Camlough man followed his sister Aimee back onto the playing field, with the Orchard ladies sharp-shooter returning against Kerry last month.
Mackin, whose brother Connaire is not involved in the squad this season, entered the fray after 43 minutes and was on the field for a bizarre final quarter that saw the home side land orange flag after orange flag with Kieran McGeeney’s men still winning with 11 points to spare.
"Two ACLs and then I had to get a cyclops lesion cleaned up, so that’s three surgeries in the last 18 months," he told RTÉ Sport.
"Just glad to be back on the field playing with the boys. It does (mean a lot), it definitely does.
"It’s hard to be out with an ACL and then come back and do another one and then to get another surgery again, it’s definitely tough to come back.
"I’ve the right people around me and I’m grateful for it.
"My sister (Aimee), unfortunately she did it as well so that’s never good, but it was good to have her to bounce off and help with the recovery.
"On the low days it was always nice to have that bit of support."
Mackin’s return is timely with McGeeney’s midfield options decimated this season.
Niall Grimley and Rian O’Neill are not involved while one costly training session in the lead-up to the Fermanagh game saw Ben Crealey ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle while Callum O’Neill picked up a shoulder injury.
It meant he had a close-up view of Darragh McGurn’s two-point masterclass, and Mackin concedes improvement is needed ahead of a provincial semi-final against the winners of Donegal and Down.
"The second half tapered off there a wee bit," he said.
"We need to build on that for the next game. We just have to up it."
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