Ruairí Kinsella can’t remember hearing a pop. But the instant debilitating stab of pain still brings a grimace. It was June 6th – the day his season ended.Kinsella underwent anterior cruciate ligament surgery in Santry Sports Clinic last Tuesday. In another version of how the summer of 2026 might have played out, the 23-year-old Meath forward would have been playing an All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park last weekend. But instead he was at home in Dunshaughlin, knee heavily bandaged, crutches resting against the couch, watching the games on TV. It was during a training session just one week out from Meath’s All-Ireland Round 2B clash against Derry when Kinsella’s right knee gave out. “I knew my season was over straight away,” he says. “I was hoping the outcome wasn’t going to be this bad, but as soon as it happened I knew it was serious.”He has the recording on his phone. When you see the video clip, it’s not the visual image of the injury that strikes you first; it’s the resulting violent screech of pain. Meath trained at various club grounds during the season, a well-received concept aimed at building a stronger connection between the team and the fans. On Saturday, June 6th, they were in Ballinlough – and Kinsella stresses the pitch was ideal. There were about 20 minutes remaining in the session, and he was taking part in a drill where he was defending. That, Kinsella smiles, was probably his first mistake.As he went to contest for possession, Kinsella planted his right foot on the ground but as he tried to change direction, his knee’s momentum continued in the opposite direction. “My leg just buckled straight away, and all I remember is this instant surge of pain. For two minutes, just pure agony. And then it just kind of eased off; it was strange. I’d never want to experience that pain again.”Ruairí Kinsella playing in the Leinster GAA Senior Football Championship quarter-final against Westmeath at Glenisk O'Connor Park. Photograph: Grace Halton/Inpho He was asked if he’d heard the distinctive pop that often accompanies ACL injuries. He hadn’t. But everything had happened so quickly and his head was a fog of emotions. Back in the dressingroom, he noticed his right leg getting stiffer and remembers struggling to respond to well-wishing teammates. He was unable to talk. Shock. Fortunately, he wasn’t driving that night and shared a lift to and from training with his clubmate, Conor Gray.It was a quiet car journey back to Dunshaughlin. But the moment Kinsella closed the front door behind him, everything he had been suppressing just erupted. “I started bawling straight away. The tears just came, I couldn’t control it,” he says.Eventually, he composed himself sufficiently to call his mam, Sodelvia. She was home within minutes. After that, the plans for recovery started. He had scans the following morning and spent the rest of that day anxiously waiting for the results. It was around 9pm when Meath physio David McCrea called.“I knew straight away by his voice that bad news was coming. He was kind of like, ‘How are you?’ And I could just tell it wasn’t good. The dreaded ACL. That was a tough night, I didn’t sleep much that night.”It was difficult in those initial days afterwards to rationalise what had happened, or why it had happened. The challenges ahead will be mental as much as physical. “There’d be thoughts in my head thinking like, ‘If I didn’t step out to make that tackle, would everything be different?’Ruairí Kinsella “You’re running various scenarios through your head, wondering was it just a freak accident or was it a weakness in the muscle somewhere else and it was going to happen anyway at some stage?“It was definitely something I needed to try get out of my head, and after a couple of days I did start to get a clearer focus. I needed to accept it, you can’t change the past, but you can control how you approach the rehab and recovery.”His family rallied – parents, brothers, sister. You don’t need to be long in the Kinsella homestead to realise his family will be sturdy pillars propping him up in the months ahead. His friends, club mates and county colleagues too. His recovery will be all the more manageable because of that support network.“I’d have to give a special mention to my mum, in fairness. She’s been my number one supporter ever since I was young. She brought me everywhere, looked after everything, nutrition, anything I ever wanted she’d have it for me, she’s always been brilliant.”As a teenager, Kinsella was a decent soccer player. Or as he says himself, he was more a “soccer head” than possibly aspiring to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand.He played mainly for St Kevin’s but also had stints with Home Farm and Joeys. But as is the case with any talented kid, eventually their sporting journey reaches a fork in the road. For Kinsella, it came around the age of 15-16. John McCarthy, now a selector with the seniors, was involved with Meath’s underage development squads. He didn’t promise anything but let it be known he believed Kinsella had a bright future in green and gold.“Sometimes I do miss [soccer] a little bit, and I was really 50-50 for a while, but I suppose once I made the decision, I’ve never really looked back.”Ruairí Kinsella with Tyrone's Ciarán Daly and Brian Kennedy during an Allianz Football League Division 2 fixture in Croke Park. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho In 2020 he was centre forward on Meath’s Leinster minor championship winning team. Two years later he was voted Meath Young Footballer of the Year.Colm O’Rourke handed him his senior championship debut with Meath in the summer of 2024 and Kinsella had featured in every single championship game during Robbie Brennan’s tenure until this injury.He was nominated for an All Star last season but arguably his form was even stronger this term. He registered 2-21 in the league and was Meath’s top scorer in their Leinster quarter-final defeat to Westmeath, with 0-6. He also added 0-5 against Cork.But his importance to the Royals goes beyond scoring tallies. Kinsella’s playmaking abilities have seen him emerge as a key cog in Meath’s attacking game.“I suppose I’d had a good season in 2025 and I didn’t want it just to be a one-year thing, I obviously wanted to push on, which I felt like I had been doing until it came to an abrupt end.”The medical advice was not to travel for Meath’s fixture against Derry. In an effort to reduce the swelling, a three-hour road-trip to Celtic Park was deemed unwise. So, he didn’t go, watched it at home and immediately regretted not travelling. Sod it, come what may he was going to Castlebar the following week.His mam drove him out west for that Mayo match and he met the Meath team in the hotel beforehand. “It was just nice to kind of be involved in that kind of pre-game buzz, to be around the lads again. I was happy I made the decision to go.”The bond is tight. Brennan has created a close-knit group and that too will be important in the months ahead.His club manager, Richie Kealy, has already been in touch. Kealy, an All-Ireland winner with Meath, is making sure Kinsella doesn’t become a stranger. He wants him involved. So, if his contribution to Dunshaughlin’s championship campaign is filling water bottles, so be it. He’ll chip in however he can.Ruairí Kinsella and Conal McKeever of Louth during the Leinster GAA Senior Football Championship Final in Croke Park last year. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho But he knows the journey back to playing football won’t be without its challenges. He’s not setting a return date, no big milestones, and is just hoping for a series of small wins along the way. His Meath teammate Jack Kinlough suffered a cruciate knee ligament rupture last year. Unfortunately, Kinlough had a significant setback in his recovery recently, damaging the same knee again. Kinsella and Kinlough have pledged to have each other’s back in the months ahead, they’ll help each other get through it.As with any amateur player, the metrics push beyond sport. Injuries like this impact life.Kinsella completed his postgraduate degree in education in Maynooth University. He did his work placement in Curragha earlier this year, and the plan was to start applying for jobs to secure a teaching post for September.But the cruciate tear has forced a re-evaluation. “Yeah, it has thrown a spanner in the works,” he says. “In my head, I’m just kind of thinking now that I might just sub for the year and not sign up for anything permanent.“The first year teaching can be tough, so subbing might just allow me to focus 100 per cent on the rehab and get back fully right. “I don’t want anything really getting in the way of it because football is kind of my life. I’m starting to accept that it has been taken away from me for a year now but I don’t want it to be taken away for another year after it, so my priority is to get my knee right.”Football didn’t just change on June 6th, everything did. But Kinsella’s road to recovery has already started. As we speak, despite the pain in the front of his knee, he is constantly tensing his quad to maintain as much muscle as possible. That, he has been told, will help the process.The road ahead is long, but he intends to travel it all the way to its destination. He’ll cut no corners; he’ll do it right. From cruciate to Croker, he’ll get back in the green and gold again. Next season starts now. ♦ Ruairí Kinsella will be chronicling his recovery over the coming months through a series of columns in The Irish Times.