'I had two options': Hamill on his fight back to fitness

Maitiú Monaghan

Does anyone remember Monaghan's victory over Westmeath in Division 2 of the Allianz Football League in February 2025?

An eight-point win at an overcast Clones. You could be forgiven for forgetting the specifics.

That game saw promising Monaghan forward Michael Hamill land awkwardly after a tackle and had to be stretchered off the pitch.

The Emyvale man had broken onto the Monaghan panel the year before, scoring a goal against Cavan in the Ulster Championship; thereby instantly becoming a fan favourite. The 21-year-old was eager to nail down a starting position, when he suffered this major blow.

"I just couldn't stand on the leg," Hamill told the Celt last week. "I couldn't even lift it.

"It was a patella tendon rupture, it is attached to the bottom of your kneecap, it came off which caused me to lose complete ability to lift my leg and to walk.

"I was put on medication coming off the field, because of the pain. Once the adrenaline wore off, it hit me instantly.

"Nothing can prepare you for the physio to tell you about an injury like that. At the time I didn't know what it was, if it wasn't my ACL. When he told me what it was, I was shocked, I had never heard of anyone doing it before."

A patella tendon rupture is mostly associated with American Football, although the Brazilian Ronaldo suffered one while playing for Inter Milan in 2000.

In GAA circles, Hamill was the first.

"It was frightening at times, definitely the beginning. Straight away your season is over, and I was told it was going to be 12 months."

It took 18 months, 559 days to be exact, but last month Hamill came off the bench for Emyvale in the Intermediate Football Championship - almost scoring a goal with his first touch.

A lot of football has been played in that time; two seasons of inter-county have passed. Monaghan were promoted to Division 1 in 2025 and have since been relegated back to Division 2 in 2026.

In his absence, Hamill's club Emyvale reached an Ulster Junior Club Championship Final last year, where they were narrowly beaten, and are back playing in the IFC.

There have been new additions to the squad, Michael's younger brother, Harry, is now playing adult football having impressed at minor last year.

In that period Hamill spoke about a "roller-coaster" effort to navigate such a complex injury, starting before the match had even ended.

"There are that many people I could thank and praise, I'd leave people out. The process of getting me to Santry and surgery within two days was massive. That won't go unnoticed by me.

"The way I saw it, I had two options: I could either run from it and quit, or I could face it head on.

"I had lots and lots of bad days. Last February (2026), I had a really bad strength test in the gym in Santry. That was a test that was going to determine whether I was going to play any Championship with Monaghan. It went poorly.

"The lads were prepping for Championship, and I was completely off the field. I was running along the pitch, and I couldn't do it.

"It was a massive blow, and I questioned a lot of things then. I didn't know what to do, or if it would ever come good for me," Hamill explained.

After consulting with close friends and family, Hamill decided to take a different approach to his rehab. Over a year had passed, and he felt that he needed "a fresh voice" to help him cross the final hurdle.

"I spoke to Gabriel (the manager), and I told him I wouldn't be training, that I wanted to go off and work on this myself, but that I'd like to come to matches and be involved.

"He was more than happy for me to do that, and the players wanted me to be involved. That was nice at the time.

"Anyone who goes through a long-term injury knows how difficult it can be, going down to training and watching your team-mates out on the field while you're stuck in the gym, especially after 13 months of it."

Now that he's back on the field, the 23-year-old is looking forward to getting stuck in as the Club Championships reach boiling point.

There's also the small matter of getting to play alongside his brother.

" I haven't got playing with him yet. Harry had been taken off by the time I had been taken on," Hamill laughed.

"He's going well, slowly but surely adapting to the senior game. People give out about our size and height, but I'm looking forward to enjoying moments with him on the pitch together."