Kevin Doyle knows he’s in a race against time.
However, it is a race that the Wexford man is confident of winning.
The Colorado Rapids striker finally returned to football action at the weekend, weeks after he suffered one of the worst football injuries in recent memory.
The striker had his leg ripped open in the friendly international against Switzerland by a blade on the heel of Timm Klose’s boots at the Aviva.
Doyle knew the injury was bad initially, but thankfully Shane Long had some helpful advice for him to help with cope with the agony in an interview in The Telegraph.
“The back two studs on his boot landed on my leg in a tackle and split it open. It was freaky – it’s never happened to me before. My shin pads wouldn’t have covered that part of the leg anyway and it wasn’t a bad tackle – I was just unlucky.
“I asked Shane what it looked like and he said you’re probably better off not looking down.
Irish fans wondering if Doyle’s injury would rule him out for the Euros were later that night given a horrific in-depth look at the injury sustained by the former Wolves man.
The striker took to his twitter to share a PG-rated picture of his mangled leg, with tendons and muscle on show.
The Wexford man insists he only sent it because he was drugged up on painkillers.
“I had a nice few painkillers at time and thought, ‘This looks interesting’. Looking back I should have given people a heads-up.
“But at the time it seemed like a good idea – something people wouldn’t usually associate with a tackle in soccer. People seemed to be interested in it.”
https://twitter.com/KevinDoyle1983/status/713490018824691712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Doyle underwent surgery that night, and was in recovery less than two hours later.
He made a scoring return for his employers at the weekend, and though he knows he may face a race to secure a place in the Ireland squad for France, he’s hopeful of pushing hard over the coming weeks.
Thought @KevinDoyle1983 would be out a bit? Ha, it was just a flesh wound. Vote him for GOTW https://t.co/xCwtS5IN4Yhttps://t.co/FyvYgI9YBW
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) April 25, 2016
“I need to play some games and score some goals to give my self the opportunity to be picked. I have no idea which way it will go.
“Colorado is having a great start to the season and if I get picked for the Euros then great.”
