Tommy Conroy admits it took him time to come to terms with a cruciate knee injury which will keep him out of the Mayo jersey for the rest of 2022.
The injury happened while he was playing in a Sigerson Cup game for NUIG in early February, and he's unlikely to be back on the field until Autumn at the earliest.
The Green and Red begin the defence of their Connacht title this Sunday against Galway - a game you can see live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player - but Conroy will have to watch it from the stands at Hastings MacHale Park.
"Definitely very difficult," he says of missing some big fixtures.
"There are moments in the games where you're watching, and you really want to contribute, and really want to be involved. It's definitely difficult, and I still find it difficult to watch.
"I wouldn't be the best onlooker. The first few games, I didn't really enjoy even going to them. I didn't go to all the National League games.
"I've become a bit more positive at this stage, and have come to terms with it a bit better. Big game on Sunday, back in MacHale Park, full crowd - that won't be the easiest thing. I'm still there for my team-mates. I'll be wishing them well.
"I've been very lucky. Never pulled a muscle or broke a bone. This was the first major one. I've had slight issues before, and been out for three or four weeks. That was off-season so it didn't affect games.
"To be honest, that I can remember, I'd never really missed a major game so it was very new to me. It was something I had to come to terms with and it definitely took time to come to terms with. I think I'm dealing with it as good as I can."
The injury happened in a busy period for the Neale clubman.
Off the back of Mayo's run to the All-Ireland final, he was involved with his club, before playing with the university side.
Just 48 hours before picking up the injury he had also started for Mayo in their Allianz League draw with Donegal, a schedule he says "didn't help" when it came to the injury.
"At the time, I didn't want to think about it too much. I suppose I didn't want to know the answer, whether it affected it or not. I'm sure it probably didn't help but at the same time I could have been resting for a month and still got the same injury so you'll never know.
"It definitely is a hectic time period for anyone involved in both Sigerson and inter-county. There probably is a bit too much going on at that time of the year."
Pressed on whether he would like to see a rule brought in which would bar those involved with Sigerson Cup teams from playing for their county in the league, Conroy suggests a different approach.
"I'd probably prefer if they could run them separately because the Sigerson is a prestigious competition and it needs to be kept that way.
"Also, the National League is becoming so important nowadays, so high profile that players, definitely for me anyway, I'd like to play both if possible. I suppose, yeah, people probably need to sit down and put something in place for the players that they don't have to be worrying about it themselves."
