Martin Boyle opens up on Hibs injury that left him in a 'really bad stage' after World Cup heartbreak

Martin Boyle admits having his World Cup dream left in tatters by injury was "mind blowing" as he struggled to come to terms with it.

The Hibs winger was set to join up with the Socceroos squad for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. But just weeks before jetting out to the Middle East, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury against St Mirren. He was hopeful of getting back in time and tried everything he could, but in the end opted for surgery with the aim of returning to action in six weeks.

But he woke up to doctors telling him they had reconstructed his entire knee. Boyle had first suffered the injury seven years previously and this was his third time going under the knife. In the end, he had to accept that he wasn't going to be fit for Qatar, but travelled with Graham Arnold's squad anyway as they made the knockout stage before losing to eventual champions Argentina.

Boyle has now revealed that he struggled mentally in the aftermath as he tried to continue playing despite his fitness struggles. And hes's credited the support of his wife - Hibs women star Rachael - with getting him back on track

"I went through a really bad stage in my life that I haven't really opened up about," he told The Hibernian Quarterly. "I was struggling badly, but I hid it quite well because I am quite chirpy around the place.

"But I wasn't in a good place, I wasn't myself and my wife took the brunt of that. But she supported me and I spoke to a few people to get me through it. The amount of things I got done to my knee, or the amount of things I did to try and play through it, was insane.

"It was a lot. I tried everything and it just wasn't to be. In the end, I went in for the surgery hoping to be done and be back playing in six weeks. Then you