When James Boyle saw an advert in Cappagh Hospital in 2012 for the Irish Amputee Team, little did he know it was a lightbulb moment that would change his course.
The Dungloe man, still in his mid-teens at the time, was at Cappagh for a prosthetic appointment when his curiosity was aroused.
Upon arrival back home in Dungloe that evening, a letter, from the Irish Amputee Team, was waiting.
Boyle is just back from his second Amputee World Cup. In Mexico, he scored nine goals as Ireland ended 13th in the tournament.
Now playing for Bohemians in the Irish Amputee League, Boyle has always been sports mad and trains with Donegal Saturday League side Strand Rovers.
“I told them straight up a year-and-a-half ago ‘go through me if you have to’,” says Boyle, who has been capped 41 times by Ireland now.
“I enjoy the training and really look forward to it. It’s learning the quickness and realising that I don’t have too much time on the ball.’
James Boyle receives his Donegal Daily/Donegal Sport Hub Sports Person of the Week, in association with O’Reilly’s award from Stephen Maguire and Steven O’Reilly
He was just six years old when he had his left leg amputated. Boyle was born with fibular hemimelia, a defect where the fibula bone is missing.
“It’s better to lose it when you’re young,” says Boyle, who also trained at Dungloe Boxing Club.
“I didn’t have much of an experience with two legs – but it was a deformity of the limb anyway. Some of the guys down with Ireland have lost limbs in their 20s and that would be so much more difficult.
Listen to the full interview below …
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