Alan Judge was 27 and in the form of his life when he suffered a double leg break playing in a league match for Brentford.
The creative midfielder had just made his debut for Ireland against Switzerland and was on the cusp of a high-profile transfer, with several Premier League clubs keeping close tabs on the Dubliner.
A month later, and with a potential trip to Euro 2016 on the horizon, Judge was felled in midfield, ruling him out of action for the rest of that season, and the next, and the first half of the 2017-18 campaign.
Some 21 months have now passed since that fateful day at Portman Road, but eventually, competitive football would present itself once more as Judge got set to make his return last Saturday against his former club Notts County, 1-0 down with 20 minutes remaining to salvage this season’s FA Cup campaign.
Judge may have been pondering this particular moment for quite the while – 637 days to be precise – however, by the time he trod back onto the Griffin Park surface, it felt like he had never been away.
"Because of the situation of the game, we were losing 1-0, I didn’t take anything in, I just got on the pitch. It felt like I had never been away or never missed anything," said Judge, speaking to RTE Sport.
"I don’t really think that I have taken it in, the fact that I have managed to get myself back, but I think over time that will come when I have time to reflect on it."
There is yet to be a fairytale ending to this particular chapter, however, Judge’s tale reads more in the style of the brothers Grimm – both in name and nature – a disturbing start with an ending that has yet to be written.
"The first thing that came into my mind was that my family’s future was taken away from me in a split second," said Judge, recalling that fateful day back in April 2016 playing against Ipswich.
"I’m human, I’m sure it would be everyone’s initial thought. The first thing that came into my mind was my family, it wasn’t about football."
And so the journey began, the first few weeks incapacitated, as Judge’s support system kicked into top gear, marshalled and maintained by his wife Emma.
"I rang my Dad straight away and asked him to get on a flight because Emma had the two kids and I didn’t want her stressing out. I knew how hard it was going to be."
And while Judge was putting family first, remarkably, he also recalls how he felt bad for putting a dampener on a family occasion back home.
"I didn’t watch football from August to August"
"The worst thing was I was ringing on the day of my niece’s Christening and they were celebrating something good and they knew what was happening. I felt terrible but there was nothing I could do getting injured on that day.
"I didn’t move for two or three weeks because you are not allowed to move and I had people coming over left right and centre.
"My Dad flew over for a few days, then my Mam, then my sisters flew over.
"But Emma has been unbelievable and done everything for me. She had the two kids, she just took everything on board, like it was nothing to her."
An unpredictable future awaited as Judge patiently allowed his broken bones to heal, yet his young family would prove the main constant throughout the longer-than-expected absence from the game.
Football would naturally remain another constant in Judge’s life, but not as he knew it, as the extended period of rehab and recuperation created a disconnect with his team-mates and the life he had become accustomed to.
"I didn’t watch football for a year," admitted Judge. "I didn’t watch football from August to August.
"I went and watched one or two games after I broke my leg but then it came to August time and I just couldn’t watch football and football wasn’t really part of my life.
"The manager asked me to go scout a game for him, I think it was QPR against Reading.
"I went and watched it and I just sat there thinking, ‘I can’t watch this’. Not because it was good or it was bad, it was just like... and then it came to watching the lads play on a Saturday and it was just frustrating because I can’t do anything about it.
"You’re not part of the team and it’s nobody’s fault. It’s not your fault, it’s not the club’s fault, it’s not the lads’ fault, it’s just the way it works and there’s nothing you can do about it."
Judge is quick to praise the support he received from the West London club, while accepting that this particular journey would prove a solitary one.
"Even though I was doing a lot of rehab and recovery, I wouldn’t see the footballers or any of my mates because my time and schedule was different to theirs, which is understandable.
"We have three physios because we have 25 first-team players and the fit players are the priority.
"I would come in early and do the first session on my own and the lads would be having their breakfast while I did that. And then they would go out to train and I would have my breakfast. They’d come in for lunch and I would do another session.
"So I just didn’t see them for a good seven or eight months until I got outside and I started training with them a bit."
Remarkably, there was only one real low point throughout the 21 months and thankfully for Judge it proved just a fleeting hypothetical and lasted no more than five seconds, as he pondered his future in the game, or lack of perhaps.
"It never came into my mind. Maybe for about five seconds when I was told that I needed the second operation, I thought if this doesn’t work, I’m done."
In fact, Judge focused on the positives that have presented themselves as a result of the injury, most notably, the privilege of watching his two young children grow up over the past two years.
"I tried to leave my injury outside the house when I would come home"
"The one major positive of not being fully fit is that I have seen my two kids grow up over the last two years. They got to see me literally every weekend, because footballers normally travel a lot."
And while Judge admits that he honestly "doesn’t know" how he actually began the whole healing process - "where to start?" he ponders - the former Notts County man knew that he had to attempt to keep his footballing woes outside of the family home.
"My thing was, if I had a bad day, I’d just go home, go asleep, wake up and go again.
"I tried to leave my injury outside the house when I would come home.
"But it was hard leaving football out of the house if I was in a bad humour or had a bad day. But Emma would be so understanding, so if I came home and wasn’t in the best form she would tell me to just go and have an hour upstairs.
"Because I didn’t want my kids to see that. Obviously, they have seen me disappointed, but you just don’t want to bring things on to your family.
"There were times when I would come home and I would park about 10 houses away from my house and just sit outside and give myself 10 minutes, because I knew I had two lively kids who would want me to charge about and run around with them and all that stuff."
Nine months on from the horrific injury, Judge was back in his boots and looking to get back on track, however, the midfielder knew that something was not right as an important date with the surgeon loomed large.
"I was due for an X-ray and CT scan in April. I wasn’t reporting much pain to the surgeon but I had a little bit of pain when I was striking the ball. And as it got closer to the date, I was thinking, ‘no, it doesn’t feel right’.
"So I got the CT scan and it proved that it wasn’t healing quickly enough so I thought I would bite the bullet and have the operation.
"They had to re-break it, put a bigger rod in and take a piece of my fibula out and put more pressure on my tibia so it would fuse together.
"But the main thing, it worked. I could have chanced playing on the first one but I would never be anyway near where I am now."
And so it began, again. Idle time waiting on nature to take its course.
But this time it was all different and the future presented itself with a lot more clarity.
And yet again, it was family that would prove the inspiration for the next big step on the road to tying up his competitive boots once more.
Six weeks on from the second operation, Judge was due to tie the knot with Emma, and this was one particular occasion that he wanted to experience with his feet firmly planted on the ground.
"I had that six or seven weeks before my wedding and I managed, just in time, to get back walking a week before the wedding and that was something I was delighted with.
"From the second operation, everything has gone so well, so good, the leg is feeling great.
"I have worked hard, I feel like I have really worked. I wouldn’t be afraid to say that, I am quite proud of what I have done and what I have come through.
"I went on honeymoon for a week and then that was it, I was back in.
"The physios were trying to give me days off, but I didn’t want a day off, I was so determined to get back, it was the main thing that I was thinking about. Football, family and then getting back to where I was before."
A final date with the specialist coincided with another important landmark in Judge’s journey, and this time the news proved perfect for the midfielder, who was far enough along his recovery to start mixing it with his old pals out on the training ground.
"When I went in to get that last CT scan in October and he said ‘it’s healed’, the relief that flew through me was incredible.
"Knowing that I was going to play again. Just knowing and seeing that it had healed.
"It is clear as day in my mind, the day I went back training full contact was October 24th.
"I was [training] outside since August but there is so much work to do to get your leg strong again. I am still working on it at the moment and I have to build up a lot of calf muscle and calf strength and everything else that has to come with it."
And it is fair to say that Judge was chomping at the bit to feel the full force of a high-octane training session, anxious to ensure that his leg was fully healed.
An emotional moment at Griffin Park as @10judgey returns to action after 21 months out injured#BEESNOTTS pic.twitter.com/fJMRBRzPy8
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 6, 2018
"Confidence hasn’t been a problem with me going into tackles. If anything, the manager has had to rein me in in training to take it easy, because I am one of them, I want to know straight away if it is alright. And I did, I found out straight away and it has been good.
"The confidence is there and just getting those 20 minutes on Saturday gave me such confidence knowing that I would get back to the player I was before.
"In training, you start thinking ‘Is my touch good enough?’ and things like that, but when it comes to a match scenario, I didn’t think about anything like that, I just felt like myself really."
Judge has been in the matchday squad for two recent Brentford league games and while an unused sub on both occasion, a cameo appearance against Bolton this weekend is very much an aspiration.
Fortune may not have favoured Judge over the past two years, but things are certainly looking up, and remarkably Brentford are still working under the same regime, which will certainly help the former St Joseph’s Boys player quickly return to the manager’s mind.
"There has been a lot of change at Brentford over the last few years but I think I am the longest-serving player at the club now in four years, which is incredible.
"Brentford have been really good to me. I know what I am coming into, I’m playing for the same manager that was there when I broke my leg, so he knows exactly what I am about, what type of person I am and how to use me.
"So I am very lucky that there hasn’t been any managerial changes either."
Judge was on the verge of a move to the Premier League, but there is little time for reflection or the thoughts of making up for lost time in his mind. Instead, Judge has three goals to focus on, the first being to re-establish himself in the Brentford starting XI and push for a place in the end of season play-offs.
"If I start thinking about [making up for lost time], I am going to start doing things I wouldn’t usually try on the pitch and put more pressure on myself.
"I’ve already got enough pressure, so I don’t need to be adding any more."
Here was the moment that @10judgey made his return to first-team action yesterday afternoon#BEESNOTTS pic.twitter.com/cKyTnEQMpE
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 7, 2018
And once step one is complete, Judge can start eyeing other expectations, which includes a trip to Turkey in March to hopefully add to his solitary international cap.
Judge made his international debut in March 2016, just before the leg break, and was involved in previous squads, including the Euro 2016 play-off clash with Bosnia and Herzegovina. And despite his absence, he revealed that the Irish management have been in contact, while also inviting him to come along to international fixtures, which bodes well for the future.
"My debut was a great day," he said. "It’s one of my big ambitions to get back. Martin has been in contact with me, Roy has been in contact with me, so I have spoke to them a few times. So the fact that they are talking to me and ringing me, hopefully means that I am in their thoughts for the future.
"I’ve been invited to go to a few games since the injury but I’m not like Seamus [Coleman], one of the main players there. I would have felt awkward, because I’m not one of them. So you kind of feel in limbo because you are thankful for the offer."
Coleman, of course, is on a similar path as the one that Judge has just taken and the two players have been in contact throughout with the Ireland captain looking to return to full fitness over the next few months.
"I knew Seamus from before. I played with Seamus with the Under-21s and we’ve been talking on the phone.
"The minute the tackle went in on him, when he didn’t move, I knew something was wrong. By the sounds of things, he is having a good recovery and hopefully that will continue."
But in the meantime, it’s back to Griffin Park for Saturday’s league clash with Bolton and the next step in what the Dubliner hopes will lead to a very successful year ahead.
"I’ve got three goals: get back playing regularly for Brentford; I’ve got Ireland in mind; and then get to the Premier League, where hopefully I’ll have a bit of luck with me this year.
"Hopefully this year will be my year and something will happen for me. I’m due a bit of luck."
