Kealy targets long-awaited National outdoor gold after 18-month injury battle

After progressing from bronze in 2022 at the National Senior Track and Field Championships to silver in 2023, and adding indoor gold in early 2024, Daena Kealy appeared destined to claim the outdoor title too.

But then injury struck and she endured every athlete’s nightmare – a prolonged spell away from competitive action.

Eighteen months after injury halted her rise to the top, Daena Kealy returns to the National Championships this weekend looking to complete the journey from bronze to gold at the Morton Stadium in Santry.

Anybody involved in rehabbing from an injury in a team sport will tell you how difficult it is, but it is tenfold harder when you compete in an individual sport like the high jump.

It takes incredible strength of mind and a hunger to succeed to go through everything that is needed to return to compete at the top level.

It was that taste of that indoor gold that helped the Borris athlete through those torturous times.

“I think that was definitely a big help,” said Kealy, who now competes for St Abbans AC.

“I obviously didn't know what was coming in terms of getting injured, it was in April 2024 that I got injured on camp.” 

The issue was an injury to her take-off foot, kind of an occupational hazard for a high jumper but it took a long time to get to the root of the problem.

“It took a long, long time to diagnose. I ended up going to a doctor in London who diagnosed me in the end. I don't know how I would have felt if he told me in April 2024 that I wouldn't be back competing until May 2026, but I think because the results I had in the last season I competed was just about enough to keep me going at the time.” 

“I had a bone in my foot that was just genetic, it was just a bit longer than usual. It can happen to anyone, but when I went to the surgeon in London he said that he'd seen it on different athletes, and for the most part it wouldn't cause anyone any bother. He'd seen it impact soccer players, ballerinas, and now obviously a high jumper.

“I was on camp and I broke off a little piece of bone, and it was just kind of there. I was okay, it didn't bother me day to day once the initial thing settled, and it wasn't even really showing up with any MRI with a broken bone. The only thing it kind of affected was my sprinting and jumping. So, it's not that I was in a lot of pain for the last couple of years but it was just not being able to get back to jump, which was the frustrating thing.

“It's such an unnatural movement for high jumpers, the forces that go through your foot. I'd say there's very few high jumpers who haven’t had some kind of injury like that. Ankle injuries would be very common. My injury was small enough, but it was also, because it was so small it was particularly hard to diagnose.

“Once we got it diagnosed, it was all very straightforward. I got the surgery here in Ireland in the end. There were a few blips along the way trying to get back, but I think that can be expected and it was relatively straightforward in terms of being able to get back this year,” she said.

Kealy hasn’t just returned to action, she has returned with a bang. In four competitive outings, she has jumped 1.80m or more, and even had a personal best jump of 1.83m in Bedford at the end of May. That sort of jumping would have her bang in contention for a gold on Saturday.

“I really didn't expect it with my first competition in Loughborough. I had felt like I was in a good place to compete but when you're in good shape and on the brink of getting back, you're pushing it too far, and I ended up with a bit of a calf niggle and having to pull out my first public competition.

“I was really unsure going into my first competition at Loughborough, so that was a really pleasant surprise. Then a week later I actually jumped a personal best, so I was obviously delighted, but I think the feeling was really more a relief to get back to the stage where I was like, I’m not trying to get back anymore, because I felt for so long that I was chasing to get back to where I was.

“Then I had a couple of competitions, got through a bit of travelling, which was fun, and it was really nice. Then, a couple of weeks ago I competed in Cork and Morton. I'd never normally do two competitions in one week, I'm working full time so I can find that quite tough, but when there was two such great competitions at home and I was so excited to compete back in Ireland. It was just really nice to put up good performances. I was actually a bit disappointed, I felt like there's a couple more centimetres there but it's such a great position to be in, that you're disappointed to be jumping a couple of centimetres off your best. After the last couple of years that I have had, I kind of need to remind myself of that sometimes,” said Kealy.

Although glad to be back competing at the top level, preparing for the National Championships and juggling a full time career takes some doing. Kealy is thankful to have an understanding manager where she works in Pfizer in Grangecastle. Ellen Dowling played top level GAA for over a decade for Kildare, and is married to another former Kildare player Paul Cribbin, so knows what it takes to juggle a career and an elite sporting life but there are still challenges.

“Ellen is a legend, she went through her fair share of things with her own career so having that was great. I know my coach probably anticipated it more than I did coming into the season, but when I last competed, I had just come into Pfizer on a grad programme and it was great but the nature of that is you don't have that much responsibility and it was a little bit easier, I was still learning. When I was injured, I tried to use the time to progress my career, just to have a different goal outside sport. But that also meant then, that when I started back competing, I'm in a different stage of my career now, so a little bit more responsibility and it can be a little bit harder to manage, so I've had to learn that.

“I'd love to be a full-time athlete but I'm just not in that position at the minute, so it’s just trying to make the most of it,” she said.

Kealy, of course, is from a very famous sporting family herself. Her dad Christy hurled for Mount Leinster Rangers and Carlow, and has gone on to have an excellent coaching career, while her sister Lauren was also an athlete and her brother Evan was part of the Carlow hurling team that reached the McDonagh Cup Final this year. Kealy did try camogie herself but found that it wasn’t for her and laughs that she is thankful that her brother has been able to pick up the hurling slack in the family and allowed her to concentrate on her athletics.

“I think ending up in Athletics was following my older sister. She is a year older, and she was the one with probably a lot more than natural talent in running, and I always wanted to copy her.

“We started off with Community Games, and Lauren was off winning races, and I used to be back halfway down the track, and my mum loves to remind me of that.” 

“I did all the events growing up and ended up in high jump. I did play camogie for a while, when we first moved from Carlow Town down to Borris.

"My dad was delighted and we were only ever going to play it for Mount Leinster Rangers. I did it for a few years but I don’t think I’m very well suited to contact sports, I get injured enough doing individual sports! Thankfully Evan came along, and he's carried that one, because I think if Evan didn't play, there'd be one of us in the family playing, so he's taken that one for us, and it's not gone too bad for him,” laughed Kealy.

Now 26, she admits that she has not given up hope of representing her country on the international stage. That’s for further down the road if she can stay healthy, finish out the season and get a strong winter’s training done but the short-term goal is on this weekend’s Championships. Her PB jump of 1.83m is the second highest outdoor jump by an Irish female athlete this year, only behind Siun Quinn, so Kealy is hopeful of a good showing.

“I think female high jumping in Ireland, there's a lot of really good talent and really, really young girls coming up but there's been a couple of us jumping over 1.80m. It’s been a while since the National Championships had that, so it'll definitely be a great competition.

“When I got back jumping the goal was to get to national seniors and get there healthy. I think coming back from injury, to be on the podium at all would be a fantastic way to close off that chapter and round that whole thing off, and it would be a good stepping stone into next year because ultimately, the plan for this year was to get back competing and to be able to push on next year, we weren't really expecting a PB this season.

“I feel like this weekend, if you're to ask, what would be the ideal day, it would be to get the gold, and it would be nice to put a National Outdoor gold alongside my indoor.

“I think, if I can get up near my best, and I think with the way my training's been going and the way the last two competitions went, I am in the shape to jump a little bit higher. Whether you can get it to happen on the day, there's so many variables - atmosphere, weather, everything like that. But, I think, if I can get near my PB or push on, I definitely have a great chance, but, you know, someone could come and have the day of their lives too.

“So, I just hope to go out and clear everything first time, and hopefully end up on top, or on the podium at least,” she said.

Two years later than she imagined, the chance to complete her journey from bronze to silver to gold is finally back within reach.

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Kealy is not the only Carlow athlete aiming to bring back a medal from Santry this weekend.

Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe Harriers) and Adam Nolan (St Laurence O’Toole AC) are defending champions in the 200m and 110m hurdles respectively and won’t want to let their titles slip without a fight.

Adam Murphy (Tinryland) took bronze in last year’s 200m and will be looking to emulate that achievement, while Molly Scott (St Laurence O’Toole AC) is a perennial challenger for medals. Her clubmate Leila Colfer will also be looking to make her mark at senior level.

St Laurence O’Toole duo Matthew Callinan Keenan (Pole Vault) and Jenny Sawyer (400m Hurdles) have been national champions before and at their best, will go close again.