Tiernan McCann remembers the days when he’d have to rummage around on his bedside table to find his glasses or contact lenses, just to check the time of day.
It wasn’t common, he says, for him to walk into doors of his Killyclogher home on some bleary mornings.
His sight was such that he wore -6.5 lenses and got to the point last April where he’d had enough. He checked into the Cathedral Eye Clinic in Belfast and underwent a keyhole laser surgery known as SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction).
It was a Godsend.
When he wakes in the City West this morning to rub the sleep from his eyes ahead of the All-Ireland final against Dublin later in the day, it’s a different world, seen now through different lenses.
“It’s amazing waking up every morning end not having to reach for the glasses or the contact lenses,” he says.
“I was very poorly sighted. It got progressively worse from when I was a child. It got worse and worse and worse. It was stable for three or four years and that made me eligible for laser eye surgery. I could walk into the door in the morning if I didn’t have my lenses in.
“I got laser eye treatment in April 2017. I’d always envisaged getting it done. Because I play sport, it was a case of when rather than if.
“There was always the inconvenience of having to remember packing the lenses if we have training away or a game down the country. You’d have to remember the solution and the lenses and make sure they were ordered them ordered in time. When I was wearing them, I had no issue.
Tiernan McCann presents a signed Tyrone jersey as a ‘Thank You’ to Cathedral Eye Clinic Principal Optometrist (right) and practice manager Gary McArdle left
“I needed to have the surgery. There’s a stigma attached to laser eye surgery that it’s uncontrollably sore and that you’re laying in pain for two days. That wasn’t the case for me.
“I was watching tv a couple of hours later and had no pain associated with it at all. Two days later, I could see close to 100 per cent. Two weeks later, I’d say I was at 100 per cent – even better than I had with the lenses.”
McCann was back this week for a check-up. Andrew Spence, the Principal Optometrist at Cathedral Eye Clinic, says McCann has been given ‘fighter pilot standard vision’ from the treatment.
Dublin boss Jim Gavin, who works with the Irish Aviation Authority, and was once in the air corps could relate to Spence’s take.
McCann is a qualified pharmacist and his day job has benefited from his improved vision.
He says: “My working day, from 9-6, a lot of it is reading peoples’ records or prescriptions. The difference in anumber or decimal point could have major implications for people. To have something that is 100 per cent effective is brilliant now. I’m not relying on glasses or lenses. It has changed my life.”
McCann and Tyrone are huge underdogs as they attempt to stop Dublin’s relentless march for a fourth successive All-Ireland.
Tyrone’s own esprit de corps has strengthened once more under Micky Harte, who has taken the Red Hands back to the fourth All-Ireland final of his reign.
“It’s going to be a massive task,” McCann says.
“We know how lauded Dublin are – and rightly so. They’re going for four-in-a-row, which is unheard of in the modern era. But it’s a one-off game and we’ll give it absolutely everything.”
In last year’s All-Ireland semi-final, McCann broke a hand against Dublin and fractured a kneecap during this year’s League.
People come into the chemist to ‘talk football’ and it can become a drain during his 40-or-so hours in the week.
“But at least I’m not out on a sight lifting,” he mentiones.
“I’m in a warm environment.
“Luckily, a lot of the employers I’ve had have been accommodating. To have that different environment of being at work and talking about medicine is good.
“Some of the lads in the team would ask for advice about vitamins, or if they’re suffering from colds or need pain relief.”
He’s been off work coming up to the final and he expects to feel the butterflies this morning.
He says: “The last game (semi-final against Monaghan), I was really nervous. I could barely eat the pre-match mean. That’s natural. People say nerves are good as long as you focus the energy in a positive way.”
Rather than walking into it, he might be expected to burst through the door for this one.