Martin Boyle opens up on injury hell as Hibs hero lifts lid on World Cup woe and unbreakable resilience to return

Martin Boyle lay on the grass and looked into the clear blue Qatari sky.

At that moment, it felt like the world was about to crash down on him. Forty minutes passed and he was still there. Motionless. Numb. A concoction of emotions swirled around his head. Anger, sadness, dejection. Maybe even bitterness. He was on the floor, exasperated.

But overriding all of that was just sheer devastation. Because he wasn’t going to live his dream and play at the 2022 World Cup. And every day since, the pain has still been there. Mentally, he’s somehow had to process the single biggest blow of his career. But he’s getting there. Boyle is as resilient as they come. You don’t go from Montrose to playing in the Premiership for Hibs and getting caps for Australia if you don’t have a bit of grit about you. Without that, who knows where his head would be at?

For anyone not in his close circle of family, friends and team-mates, it’s difficult to comprehend how he must have felt in Qatar. He’d sacrificed a lot to represent Australia, where his dad Graeme was born. He’d knocked back Scotland for a start. The thousands of air miles around the globe, time away from his wife and kids.

Everything was geared towards pulling on that yellow Socceroos shirt at the greatest show on earth. But Boyle’s story proves how cruel this game can be. When he injured his knee against St Mirren in October at Easter Road, he knew he was in trouble.

There was still time, though. Backed by Aussie coach Graham Arnold, he gave himself every chance of making it. Scans, strappings, injections, pills – you name it. Until that day he collapsed on the Qatari turf in utter despair. That’s when reality hit.

Speaking for the first time about his World Cup heartache in an