Garbett savours first Dundalk start after injury ordeal

Friday night’s scoreless draw between Wexford and Dundalk FC in the SSE Airtricity League First Division may not linger long in the collective memory, but for Norman Garbett it was an evening of deep significance.

More than a year after signing, the 21-year-old winger at last took to the field for his first start in the famous Lilywhite shirt, having finally overcome the hamstring injury that had sidelined him for much of the season.

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“It’s a big accomplishment,” Garbett reflected when speaking to The Democrat afterwards. “Since arriving, it’s been quite hard—the situation last year and what was going on, and then my own problems with injuries and stuff like that—but I’m just trying to finish strong for myself, but also help the team. They’ve been excellent throughout the whole season. I’m just trying to do my part as well.”

Garbett joined Dundalk in July 2024 from Italian side Potenza, but opportunities were scarce during a turbulent campaign that ended with relegation from the Premier Division that October.

Just a week later, his fortunes dipped further when, only minutes after stepping off the bench in Dundalk’s final home game of the season—a 1-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers, still their last league loss at Oriel Park—he sustained a hamstring injury.

Choosing to remain with the club in the wake of relegation, he extended his stay in Dundalk—over 11,000 miles from his hometown of Wellington, New Zealand—but adversity struck again in March, when a recurrence of the same injury, sustained shortly after his introduction in a 2-2 draw with Treaty United at Oriel, ultimately required surgery.

Having marked his return with substitute appearances in Dundalk’s three games leading up to Wexford, it was at Ferrycarrig Park that he was finally handed his long-awaited full debut for the club.

“It’s a proud moment,” he said. “It’s proud for my family and everything. It’s been tough being away from home. I’ve not gone home during the injury.

“It’s so expensive to go home, it’s so far, so no one really can visit me either. It’s been tough, but the whole team has been great to me, and the manager and the whole coaching staff have been great to me.

“I’m proud of myself. That was my fourth game back, and I’m in the starting line-up, so I’m proud of myself to have pushed my way back in this early. It’s credit to the work I did in my injury period. I’m proud, and I think my parents will be proud as well.”

Although the stalemate with Wexford denied Dundalk the chance to stretch their advantage at the summit of the First Division to eight points—after second-placed Cobh Ramblers were likewise held to a draw in Kerry—Garbett’s focus remains fixed on the objective he had spoken of at the very start of the campaign: restoring Dundalk to the Premier Division.

“We’re just focused on ourselves, to be honest,” he insisted. “On the bench, no one was even talking about (the Cobh game). It’s in our hands. We could’ve gone eight points here, so we’ve let that slip a little bit.

“It’s still six points, so it’s still in our hands. We had an opportunity there to push even further, especially at the end. We had a good few chances. Dean Ebbe’s chance was massive in the second half.

“There’s another one at the end; it was Declan (McDaid) or Shane (Tracey) that cut it across, so it’s an opportunity slipped, but we’ll go again next week.”

On the prospect of promotion, Garbett reflected: “It would be a good feeling. I was here when we got relegated. That wasn’t a great feeling, but finishing the season playing, it would be a good feeling to be a part of something like this and be a part of a team.

“Obviously, I wish I could have got all the games in, but things happen in football, and that’s just life as well. I would love to be back with the squad and back in Dundalk in the Premier Division. It’d be lovely to be back where they deserve.”