I was awful to my wife.. I was aggressive & irritable after attack
RYAN RELIVES TRAUMA OF BRAIN INJURY AND ADMITS RECOVERY WAS ALL A BLUR
FORMER Dublin star Ryan O’dwyer admits part of his recovery from the horror brain injury he suffered in 2015 remains a blur.
The Tipperary native was left with a fractured skull, broken jaw and bleeding on the brain following an unprovoked attack outside a Birmingham nightclub.
Speaking in the latest episode of TG4’ s Laochra Gael, which will air on Thursday, the 2013 Leinster title winner recalled h o w t h e i nj u r i e s l e f t h i m ‘ aggressive’ and ‘ very irritable’.
He c o n c e d e d h e was ‘ a horrible person’ to wife Cliodhna as he fought to overcome the trauma.
O’dwyer, a star of the Anthony Daly ( inset) era with a League medal al s o f rom 2011, was chatting with a doorman outside a nightclub when str uck by s o me o n e w h o’d j u s t b e e n ejected.
O’dwyer said: “I didn’t even see the punch coming. I got hit on the side of the head, fractured my skull, broke my jaw. I had a cut in the back of my head as well from when I hit the ground.
“The hardest thing around that time was the recovery. I became aggressive, very irritable,
I was a horrible person to Cliodhna.
“I never physically abused Cliodhna and I never would but emotionally I abused Cliodhna.
“There were times when I ’d get angry with her and I ’d be in her face, giving out. I didn’t know what I was doing. A lot of it I can’t even remember.
“It was a t ough t i me
f or
Cl i o d h n a . I t ’s n o w t h a t I appreciate Cliodhna, it’s now that I appreciate everything she has done for me, how much of herself she has given to me, to our relationship.
“She has sacrificed her own happiness for mine for so long and now it’s my turn to hopefully repay it back to her.”
O’dwyer returned to inter- county activity and eventually retired in mid- 2018.
He’ll be remembered by fans for his powerful, all- action style and for hitting 3- 2 in the 2011 All- Ireland quarter- final defeat of Limerick.
His big regret is being sent off in the 2013 All- Ireland semi- final loss to Cork, a controversial double booking that turned the tide against Dublin. O’dwyer said: “Not a week goes by where I don’t think of that.
“Not just the one incident but that game and what could have been.
“It is a regret that I have.
“I think that was definitely Dublin’s biggest opportunity to win an All- Ireland.”
On joining Dublin for 2011, O’dwyer said he immediately felt at home, having questioned himself as a Tipp senior.
He said: “It was in my own head with Tipp that because I never played minor, are they thinking less of me? Do I not fit in here? Do I not feel part of it?
“Those doubts were there the whole time, I was asking those questions the whole time.”
Former Tipperary and Dublin hurler Ryan O’dwyer will feature in the latest episode of TG4’ s Laochra
on Thursday evening at 9.30pm.