Tara O’Hanlon’s resolve in the face of adversity is worth talking about again and again.
An 18-year-old Leaving Cert student when first capped by the former Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw against the USA in April 2023, she was much admired by Manchester City, who were circling for her signature.
Life was about to get very interesting for the Peamount United defender.
The City deal went through despite O’Hanlon sustaining a serious hamstring tear in August 2023, mainly on the grounds that injuries do not tend to last more than two years.
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But a succession of further tears and relapses led to surgery, which kept O’Hanlon sidelined until the start of this season, when she finally returned to the pitch on loan to Sunderland.
Injuries are dreaded by players the world over, but also accepted as an inevitable part of almost every football career. The mental anguish for O’Hanlon was that the injuries kept occurring before she could prove her worth as a left back in the English Women’s Super League (WSL).
“Physically, rehab is not easy, any player will tell you that,” said O’Hanlon from the Republic of Ireland training camp in Marbella in advance of Saturday’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Hungary.
“Mentally, it was very difficult for me. I was working as hard as I could, putting the effort in and I kept having setback after setback. I felt like I was doing everything right, everything I could and it was not good enough. That was really difficult, mentally.”
O’Hanlon is only 20, so she still has enormous potential, but the lonely road she was forced to travel as a young Irish player in Manchester has been remarkable.
“My first injury was in August 2023. That was a grade 3C hamstring tear. That was a pretty bad one. And then, while rehabbing that, I had a setback where I reset the tendon tear two months into it.
“I had signed for City in January so the plan was to finish out my rehab, which was supposed to be six weeks. We got to the end of that and it wasn’t getting any better, it was not improving.
“We went to see a specialist who said I potentially needed an operation. Lo and behold, another week later, it had torn again. I had the operation in May 2024 and coming to the end of that rehab my left hamstring went.
“That was December. I was almost fully back in January when I blocked a shot in training. It was just a freak accident, my knee bent inward and I tore my MCL [medial collateral ligament]. So that was in January 2025. I rehabbed that and only got back by the time the season ended.
“And then, I suffered a small calf tear in preseason, this summer, from which I was back after a couple of weeks.”
It got to a point where O’Hanlon feared recovery as she expected another ligament to snap as soon as she kicked a ball.
“I feared getting back because I thought: something is going to go wrong again. That was quite scary for me, and it took a lot out of me.
“There were loads of days when I’d wake up in the morning and not want to go in. I didn’t want to do my rehab. It was a really tough place, mentally. But it was in those moments that the people around me picked me up and kept me going.
“I had a tough choice: I either give up or keep going. I was never going to give up.”
She has yet to command a regular place at Sunderland, but her aim is to win her third Irish cap on Saturday before showing enough form in WSL2 to be recalled by Manchester City next season.
Despite the setbacks, her ambition and determination are undimmed.
“It means everything for me to play for my country. I am really excited to be here. I am just taking it one step at a time, I’ve waited a long time for this, so I am living in the now, and I’ll see what comes of it.
“In terms of playing for City, my ambition is to get back there. I love that club so much. I want to get back there.”
