Conor Shaughnessy reveals torment amid rushed Portsmouth injury returns
It’s been two seasons of injury pain for the League One title winner. Conor Shaughnessy details the challenges he’s faced - and the plan to ensure there’s no further issues.
Conor Shaughnessy has lifted the lid on the mental anguish he’s suffered through his Pompey injury hell.
And the defender has detailed the process which he hopes will avoid yet another setback, as he admitted to being rushed back from previous fitness blows.
Pompey defender Shaughnessy: Inuries ‘massively testing’ mentally
It’s been two seasons of injury heartache for the League One title winner, with just nine appearances last term and 12 Championship outings in the 2025-26 campaign.
Shaughnessy was hindered by a calf issue at the start of last term keeping him out for five months, with another two months on the sidelines with a hamstring issue from February last year.
The key figure then underwent hamstring surgery after another blow against Sheffield Wednesday last September, keeping him out for three months. Then the latest quad issue surfaced at the start of this year, following January’s win over the Owls.
The 29-year-old is now two games into his comeback, but is being managed carefully and currently viewed as being available for one game per week.
Shaughnessy feels that’s in contrast to previous returns, when there was an urgency to get the centre-back on the pitch to aid his side’s Championship cause.
The former Leeds United and Reading man acknowledged the mental battles he’s faced, as he looks to avoid any further setbacks.
He said: ‘It’s been massively testing psychologically.
‘If you speak to any of the lads who’ve had longer-term injuries, it’s tougher mentally than it is physically. You’ll get back physically, but mentally you will toil.
‘It’s been a number of times now, but luckily I’ve got good people around me.
‘There’s good physios, good staff and good team-mates around to help me get back into the right state of mind and right physical condition to come back and perform.
‘It takes time to get confidence in your body again, but I think they are managing me well at the minute.
‘I’m not being thrown straight back in, which has happened before for different reasons.
‘It was needed earlier in the season and last season, but, over the past 10 games, I think we’ve actually looked pretty decent at the back.
‘I think Connor Ogilvie and Regan (Poole) have looked decent together, so that’s made things a little bit easier in terms of me not being rushed and thrown straight back in again.’
Shaughnessy planning to build availability from one game per week
Shaughnessy explained that though his immediate schedule will lead to him not being considered for games, the plan is for his availability to increase over the remainder of the season.
Given his past issues, however, player and club are firmly on the same page over erring on the side of caution at present.
Shaughnessy added: ‘It’s a discussion we had weeks ago (not being rushed), so I’m looking to build slowly back into it at the back end of the season.
‘Initially the plan’s to play one game a week, as I come back into it.
‘The fitter I get and the more minutes I play, I think that will change and I will get back to being available for every game.
‘The plan has to be to get fit and stay fit and available. That’s what the manager wants and that’s what I want - to be available for every, single game. If that means easing my way back in, then so be it.’