WHEN TALENTED young jockey Matt O'Connor took an horrific fall from Walking Aisy in a Beginners Chase in Thurles in late March it came as a stark reminder of the dangers involved in the National Hunt game.

Many barstool punters have an annoying habit of talking through their pockets and criticising jockeys after losing rides, without ever considering that these brave warriors are literally putting their bodies on the line every time they take to the track.

Chatting with O'Connor in his Ballon home, which he shares with fellow jockeys Alan Cawley and Emmet Mullins, the 21-year-old is in good spirits but itching to get back in the heat of battle in the sport he loves.

On that grey day in March, O'Connor was immediately knocked unconscious and was taken to Clonmel Hospital before being transferred to the neurosurgical unit in Cork University Hospital, where he remained in a coma for 12 days.

Unsurprisingly and mercifully he doesn't have any recollection of the frightening events:

'I don't remember anything of that day at all. If somebody asked me what happened a couple of days beforehand I'd probably remember that. But the day itself I don't remember anything and it's probably for the best,' he said.

The Grade 1-winning jockey says it was an extremely difficult time for his friends and family, particularly his parents John and Caroline.

'My father was on holiday in France skiing at the time and my mother was at a conference in Dublin. My father got a flight home as soon as he heard and my mother was down as quick as she could. I didn't know what was going on but it was a very tough time for them.

'I woke up from the coma after 12 days and about two or three days after I had woken up I came around and realised what had happened.'

Matt remained in hospital for six weeks and over the past few months would have had plenty of time to dwell on his future. Nobody would have questioned it if he had decided to turn his back on his fledging career after such a scare but in common with most jockeys, race riding is in his blood and fear doesn't come into the equation.

'As soon as I can go back riding I'll be there. I have no fear of it whatsoever. I've no recollection of the day so it's not like I'm going to have any fear of it. I can't see myself doing anything else,' he asserted.

Horseracing has claimed the lives of Irish jockeys Kieran Kelly and Seán Cleary in recent years and O'Connor is well aware that things could have taken a far more sinister path.

'I was lucky in a way. Even up in rehab you'd get a fright looking at people there because they're in an awful bad way. Some of the staff in rehab have seen me going into the patients' canteen and stopped me and said "sorry the visitors' canteen is up there". As if to say what are you doing here? So that's kind of good in a way. I guess it could have been a whole lot worse,' he said.

Matt, or 'Strawberry' as he's better known in the racing fraternity due to his Wexford roots, has been attending the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire for the past two months and is finishing his treatment there this week, and will then learn the date that he'll be able to resume race riding.

'I'll be finished up there this week. They've to write up a report to give to the Turf Club, then the Turf Club neurosurgeon would look at that and then make a decision on when I'd be back. Hopefully it will by the end of the summer. I feel I'm 100 per cent now and I'll be back riding out in the next two weeks,' he said.

He definitely has plenty to look forward to when he returns to his role of stable jockey at Colm Murphy's yard, having already tasted Grade 1 success on board Big Zeb at Leopardstown last December and can't wait to to get back in action at the Killenagh yard.

'Winning on Big Zeb is the highlight of the career so far. He would be the best horse I've sat on.

'But there's also the likes of Zaarito, Kimberlite King and Megan's Joy. There's plenty of good horses there. It will be great to be back there but at least I'm missing what's usually poor enough racing in the summer and I'll be back for the good races,' he said.

O'Connor also said he's grateful to Colm Murphy for the support he has given him since the accident.

'Colm's been in touch with me every week and he was down to see me in hospital and has been very good to me,' he said.

One thing Matt does admit to struggling with over the past month or two is his weight, a subject which draws a chuckle from Emmet Mullins who is watching the Wimbledon semifinal in the adjoining room.

'My weight is after shooting up since I've come out of hospital. It's gone up to just above 11 stone whereas usually I'd be just above ten so it's gone up the guts of a stone,' he said.

'I probably ate too much at first when I came out of hospital but I've cut down in the last few weeks, trying to get the weight down. It's gone down a couple of pounds alright but not as much as I'd like it to.

'I'm not drinking at the moment at all so that's one good thing. I said I'd give it a break when I'm injured.

'Up in rehab I exercise in the pool and sports physio centre and when I'm at home I'd go for a daily run, so I should be back on track soon,' he said.

O'Connor finished second on 100/1 outsider Midnight Chase for Neil Mulholland at Cheltenham just a couple of weeks before his fall and last year finished a highly respectable fourth aboard Climate Control in the Foxhunter's Chase and he says to have a winner and Cheltenham is high on his wish list.

'I've already good memories of the place but obviously to ride winners at Cheltenham would be a big ambition and to be up near the top of the jockeys' rankings in Ireland would also be the hope.'

If the young Wexfordman continues to show the same determination and willpower as a jockey as he has done in his brave battle against a life-threatening injury he's sure to go to the very top of the game.

'I've got a second chance at this thing called life and I'm definitely going to grab it with two hands,' he said.