Mark O’Brien got his initial taste of first-team football months after leaving his home in the Republic of Ireland to move to Derby at the age of 15.
The defender’s determination to keep experiencing the same thrill of playing at the top level has been undiminished despite suffering a series of blows before his 21st birthday that the vast majority of footballers do not experience in a lifetime.
The centre-back had heart surgery around the time of his 17th birthday and has since had two major knee operations.
After not making a first-team appearance since February 2013, O’Brien was aiming to come to Motherwell to revive his career.
The loan deal almost fell through when he suffered an ankle injury during a pre-season training camp.
But Motherwell manager Stuart McCall waited for him to regain his fitness and the 21-year-old has shown his gratitude by playing his part in Motherwell’s Scottish Premiership revival in recent weeks.
“I’ve loved every minute of it,” he said. “I think because I’d not played in a first team for nearly a year, it just felt good to be coming up here knowing I had a chance to play first-team football.
“The league is not spoken about highly enough. It has surprised me a bit because it’s a lot better standard than people let on.”
Some of O’Brien’s Derby teammates, such as former Kilmarnock midfielder Craig Bryson and former Dundee United striker Johnny Russell, had told him Motherwell was the perfect club to rebuild his career.
But his willingness to move to Fir Park was strengthened when McCall waited for him to regain his fitness following the minor setback.
“When I was away in Austria with Derby we were training and the second last day I rolled my ankle,” he said.
“It could have been a lot worse, we expected it to be a lot worse. When it happened I was gutted because I was told I had torn three ligaments in my ankle because of the swelling and the bruising. But when I found out it wasn’t as bad, it was a weight off my shoulders.
“I had done all my training, got over my injury from the year before, and I was looking forward to a fresh start at Motherwell. When that happened I was really annoyed, but I was really happy when it was only a couple of weeks of treatment. Because it wasn’t that bad, the manager here stayed patient and let me do my rehab at Derby until I was ready to come up. Not many managers would. A lot of managers get someone else in if it’s not on there and then.
“I felt privileged that he waited. The fact he waited for me made my mind up a lot clearer than it was at the start.
“When you’re wanted somewhere it gives you a bit more of a lift, and you want to go there and do well for them.”
The ankle injury was nothing compared to what O’Brien had overcome in the past – having surgery to cure cruciate ligament damage and then a knee joint problem.
“The aim is to put all that in the past,” he said. “I’ve done that with the majority of my injuries – put them in the past and get back playing to the standards I was beforehand and get my fitness back. It was frustrating because obviously I’ve had my fair share.
“I’m still only 21 so I’m lucky in a sense that I tasted first team at a young age. I know what I want from football; I want to play first team week in week out. I’m over my injuries and I want to progress.”
Dublin-born O’Brien’s ambition to make a career in the game saw him leave home at an early age.
” When I came over at just fifteen, I moved straight into digs,” he said.
“It was strange at first but because I loved football so much it took the homesickness away. I just enjoyed every single day kicking a ball around at training. It was in that same season when I turned 16 that I made my first-team debut.
“So from moving over at the age of 15, playing for a Sunday league team, to playing for a first team in a big stadium in the same season, it was an eye-opener to what I wanted to do and aim for.
“Because I got a taste of it at a young age, it was tough when I got injured for the first time, and then got back from that and got injured again.
“But I knew what I was trying to get myself back for because I had first team when I was young. So whatever injury came around I knew what I was aiming to get back to. I was always driven and never let anything knock me back.
“Sometimes during my rehab it got me down a lot, because you don’t want to be injured and it was getting frustrating. But now I’m clear of that I’m just happy playing football again.”
The former Republic of Ireland youth international’s resolve to come through those injuries was never in question, given he had come through an operation to fix a heart defect that was picked up in a routine check in November 2009.
“At the time when it happened we didn’t know if I was going to play football again or not,” he said.
“To get my fitness back from that, any injury that came along after that, I knew if I could get back from such an operation that I had when I was younger, that no ankle or knee was going to stop me. And I have just got my head down and done what I needed to do.”
O’Brien was eager to make sure his most recent return from injury was a lasting one, and knew he would have to leave Derby, temporarily at least, for the sake of his career, after realising he would not immediately be in Steve McClaren’s first-team plans.
“I’d say I was fit from November until the end of the season,” he said.
“But there was a new manager and I wanted to prove that I could play the way he wants to play, and be more cautious about getting fitness and getting my knee sorted, rather than getting thrown in at the deep end to playing. I took last season as a stepping-stone to going out on loan this year.
“For myself I just wanted to get out on loan and play games, and get my name back out there and that I’m back fit. My career was coming to a stop-start, where I would play a couple of games and pick up an injury, play a couple of games and pick up an injury. Now I’m set on playing week after week and on the way doing well for Motherwell, and hopefully we can start climbing back up the table.
“Before I came up here I was just thinking about taking it for six months, getting my fitness, getting games, getting experience, and when it comes to January, if everything has gone well, hopefully Motherwell can be an option because I’m enjoying every single minute of it.
“Last Sunday at Celtic Park was the perfect example – everyone worked hard for each other, the subs, the people who travelled, the 11 who were on the pitch. Everyone worked hard for each other and the manager. Day in, day out in training everyone has a laugh but when we need to work hard we all get our heads down.
“There’s a great balance of when to have a laugh and when to be serious. The lads have been brilliant and it’s helped me settle in a lot easier.
“It’s been brilliant for the past three weeks. Getting my debut against St Johnstone, getting a win at Ross County, and Celtic Park was a big one. At the time you look at it and think to yourself, this is why I’m wanting to play football, and this is why I made the move.”
O’Brien is at Fir Park until January but he is open to the possibility of extending his stay.
“I’ve not really heard anything from Derby since I’ve been here,” he said. “That’s maybe because it’s early doors but they have got to get on with their season and I have to get on with my career.
“If Derby want to phone up and find out how I’m doing, all well and good. If they are finding out from other people, all well and good. But if not I have to look out for myself and do well for Motherwell.
“If there’s not much there for me at Derby I have to put it to one side and start focusing on what I want to do myself and make a career for myself. I’ve been at Derby for a long time and coming to Motherwell has made me think of more options other than just at Pride Park.
“If there is a career for me at Derby, brilliant, but if not this is my opportunity to make a name for myself elsewhere.”
Words: Gavin McCafferty
Firhill Stadium
