OFFALY HURLING CAPTAIN Charlie Mitchell remains optimistic that he may feature in the 2026 season, despite being diagnosed with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) in January.
The 22-year-old was at a county training session in January when he felt chest pain and consulted team medics.
“I was out training after Christmas and just felt a pain in my chest. I thought I got a bit of a knock into the chest. It was kind of at me but I didn’t really think anything of it.
“But the pain kind of stayed so I went in and got it looked at then. They looked after me. I was in good hands. Myocarditis is what it’s called. It’s inflammation of the heart. They reckon it maybe came from a chest infection or something like that.”
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The Kilcormac-Killoughey forward has experienced no issues in his daily life, but did completely rest for a month after it happened. He is currently studying a Masters in Accounting at University of Galway.
“Day to day, I’m okay. For the first maybe month after, I was kind of told to do nothing. I wasn’t in college or anything like that. I missed a lot of time in college, which is obviously tough with exams and stuff like that coming up. They’re good to me down there (in college), they looked after me. After that, I was okay. It was just about not spiking my heart rate so I had to keep that under control.
“There’s nothing you can do, only rest and let it go away. You can’t be getting the heart rate up or anything like that. You just have to let it calm down.
“There are more tests to do, hopefully I might see some part of the year anyway. Obviously if it doesn’t heal properly or it comes back at me, I probably won’t be playing. It’s as simple as that. I’ll have to take more time to just let it go down. Hopefully I’m on the right track. There’s no surgery or anything involved, thank God.”
Mitchell has been able to return to light training with the county squad, his last game of hurling was a Fitzgibbon Cup opening round tie in early January with University of Galway against UCD.
“Light running, light gym work and stuff like that, a bit of pucking. It’s tough there, a hamstring or something like that, you might be able to stay going to the gym. You’d have something to focus on.
“It is hard kind of watching on the boys and you’re not even able to be seen to be doing a bit of gym work or if it was your shoulders at you, you’d be doing a bit of running. So it is tough mentally, but hopefully I’m out the other side of it now.
“You miss kind of the social end of it too, being around the team. All your friends in there. So it’s obviously great getting to go in there, it lifts your mood.
“It could have been obviously much worse, but please God, I’m hoping I’ll be in it this year obviously, and it’s looking hopefully like I should be. There’s no guarantees, just kind of making sure everything’s going along nicely and recovering.
“I haven’t got to play since (being named captain) but hopefully I get to lead the boys out there at some stage.”
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'Just felt a pain in my chest' - Offaly captain still hopeful of playing this year after heart issue
OFFALY HURLING CAPTAIN Charlie Mitchell remains optimistic that he may feature in the 2026 season, despite being diagnosed with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) in January.
The 22-year-old was at a county training session in January when he felt chest pain and consulted team medics.
“I was out training after Christmas and just felt a pain in my chest. I thought I got a bit of a knock into the chest. It was kind of at me but I didn’t really think anything of it.
“But the pain kind of stayed so I went in and got it looked at then. They looked after me. I was in good hands. Myocarditis is what it’s called. It’s inflammation of the heart. They reckon it maybe came from a chest infection or something like that.”
The Kilcormac-Killoughey forward has experienced no issues in his daily life, but did completely rest for a month after it happened. He is currently studying a Masters in Accounting at University of Galway.
“Day to day, I’m okay. For the first maybe month after, I was kind of told to do nothing. I wasn’t in college or anything like that. I missed a lot of time in college, which is obviously tough with exams and stuff like that coming up. They’re good to me down there (in college), they looked after me. After that, I was okay. It was just about not spiking my heart rate so I had to keep that under control.
“There’s nothing you can do, only rest and let it go away. You can’t be getting the heart rate up or anything like that. You just have to let it calm down.
“There are more tests to do, hopefully I might see some part of the year anyway. Obviously if it doesn’t heal properly or it comes back at me, I probably won’t be playing. It’s as simple as that. I’ll have to take more time to just let it go down. Hopefully I’m on the right track. There’s no surgery or anything involved, thank God.”
Mitchell has been able to return to light training with the county squad, his last game of hurling was a Fitzgibbon Cup opening round tie in early January with University of Galway against UCD.
“Light running, light gym work and stuff like that, a bit of pucking. It’s tough there, a hamstring or something like that, you might be able to stay going to the gym. You’d have something to focus on.
“It is hard kind of watching on the boys and you’re not even able to be seen to be doing a bit of gym work or if it was your shoulders at you, you’d be doing a bit of running. So it is tough mentally, but hopefully I’m out the other side of it now.
“You miss kind of the social end of it too, being around the team. All your friends in there. So it’s obviously great getting to go in there, it lifts your mood.
“It could have been obviously much worse, but please God, I’m hoping I’ll be in it this year obviously, and it’s looking hopefully like I should be. There’s no guarantees, just kind of making sure everything’s going along nicely and recovering.
“I haven’t got to play since (being named captain) but hopefully I get to lead the boys out there at some stage.”
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Charlie Mitchell GAA Hurling Offaly