GEORGE McCartney last night revealed he is still paying the price for playing through the pain barrier throughout Sunderland's promotion-winning campaign.

McCartney made 38 appearances as the Black Cats claimed the Championship crown last season despite experiencing pain in the back of his leg from October onwards.

That pain gradually became worse during the summer, and the situation came to a head in August when the 24-year-old broke down in the early stages of a pre-season game at Hull.

He has not kicked a football since and, while he returned to light training at the start of the week, a first-team return remains more than a month away.

The frustration is as obvious as it is inevitable, with McCartney admitting last season's efforts are continuing to take their toll.

"I've been playing with the injury since the middle of last October," said the Northern Ireland international. "I played through the whole of last season knowing that things weren't quite right.

"Sometimes it felt okay, but there were other times when I was struggling to run on it because it was giving me pain.

"I went away in the summer and I was hoping that the rest would clear it up. That wasn't the case, though, and I think I made it worse by playing for 20 minutes of a pre-season game at Hull.

"That's when I knew I couldn't go on and the medical staff decided it was time for an operation.

"I couldn't have imagined I would be out for this long. I haven't really kicked a ball since the final game of last season and that's been very hard to deal with.

"If you include the summer holidays, it's the best part of six months so, by the time I get back, I'll have been looking at about eight months on the sidelines."

At first, it looked like McCartney's injury was a routine problem at the bottom of his hamstring. Subsequent examinations, however, proved otherwise.

Exploratory surgery showed his tendon had become detached from one of the lower leg bones at the back of his knee - a situation so rare that most medical experts were baffled.

The only solution was to break the bone in question and re-attach the tendon with screws, a procedure that is set to be recorded for medical posterity.

"It's a very unusual condition and I think even the surgeon was shocked when he opened up my leg and saw what was going on," said McCartney. "Hopefully, he's fixed it now and I can get back into training.

"The doctors have told me they want to do a write up on my injury. They hadn't really seen it before and I think they want to put what they've done in a journal for other people to read.

"But I think he's waiting to see what happens when I get back to fitness first. I don't think he wants to talk about it too much until he's certain it's been a total success.

"It's certainly been a long and drawn-out process but, as long as it's fixed, I suppose it'll have all been worth it."

l Jon Stead and Nyron Nosworthy will be at the Sunderland retail store at the Stadium of Light from 5pm tomorrow to sign merchandise and pose for photographs. Julio Arca and Ben Alnwick will be at the club store in Debenhams, Sunderland, from 5pm on Dec 15

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