It should have been the end of Ashling Thompson’s season. Early March, a full right elbow dislocation in which her forearm separated from her upper arm, shredded ligaments and tendons, and a broken bone. That’ll probably do it. She suffered the injury during Cork’s league clash away to Kilkenny and while waiting “the bones of an hour and a half” in Freshford for medics to arrive with adequate pain relief, All-Ireland camogie final day at Croke Park in August might as well have been a foreign sport on a different planet. She’d gone through injury setbacks before. In the summer of 2022, Thompson suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury, but the surge of pain accompanying that tear was nothing compared to the elbow dislocation.“I’d rather do two ACLs at the same time, to be honest with you,” she says. “It was absolutely brutal. I couldn’t even describe the pain. After the surgery was horrific as well, the pain was incredible. I had a nerve block, but once that wore off it was brutal. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”The best recovery timeline scenario was four months – in or around the dates for the All-Ireland semi-finals on July 25th. But that was with absolutely no setbacks and her recovery meeting every marker along the way. The kind of recovery folk make in the movies. But with a slight window of opportunity left open to her, Thompson undertook a rigorous rehab programme to try to push her way through it before Cork’s season ended.“It was very intense,” recalls the 36-year-old. “I actually ended up setting up a home gym because I did not have the patience to be getting in my car three or four times a day to go to a gym.“You had physio appointments, going to a masseuse, meeting specialists and your consultants, and hammering it three or four times a day in the gym.”When Cork ran out to play Tipperary in the group stages of the All-Ireland on June 14th – just over three months after the injury – Thompson was among the subs.Ashling Thompson of Cork in March. Photograph: David Ribeiro/Inpho [ ‘The door was never closed on me’: Shauna Healy back with Galway for camogie deciderOpens in new window ]“Yeah look, I have good healing powers thankfully and I made it back. I actually togged for Tipperary in the second round and hoped to get 10 or 15 minutes. With the way that game went, however, it was better to wait.“I had a full 60 against Waterford then, so I was well ahead of schedule.”But after getting through the Waterford game, when she jogged out for Cork’s All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary two weeks ago Thompson was sporting heavy strapping on her left leg. She played 56 minutes of the semi but scans afterwards revealed a hamstring tear.“I never expected to have the year that I have had, it has been extremely difficult,” she says. “You fight so hard to come back from the elbow, but then you’re dealing with muscle injuries and stuff like that because you are constantly chasing.“It has been really challenging. Sunday is a big incentive because, to be honest, I will have to have a long, hard think over the winter. This year was definitely, I wouldn’t say draining, but it has certainly been mentally challenging.”But the plan is to go again on Sunday against Galway at Croke Park because the dream is to add a seventh senior medal to her haul. This will be Thompson’s 11th All-Ireland final appearance.“It’s a brilliant achievement but I suppose I always think we’ve only won six out of 10, like we’ve lost four of those All-Irelands and it wouldn’t be nice to lose a fifth on Sunday.“It’s almost like six isn’t enough, which is probably very greedy. But, look, finals are there to be won. And seven sounds better than six.”