The Irishman is still waiting for his league debut two years after joining the club on deadline day
Hull City defender James Furlong admits much of 2025 has been difficult as he reflects on a period that has seen him struggle with injury, but is looking forward to a brighter future.
Furlong arrived from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer of 2023 but is still waiting to make his Championship debut, having only made one senior appearance in an FA Cup replay against Birmingham City back in January 2024.
The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international spent last season on loan at AFC Wimbledon, though injury scuppered any hope of featuring in the play-off final win at Wembley back in May.
Now, the 23-year-old is gradually getting back to full fitness with regular gametime in Conor Sellars’ Under-21 side as he looks to force his way into Sergej Jakirovic’s first-team fold, or move on loan in January.
“I am happy to be back out there and build my minutes up and hopefully keep building as I reach full fitness,” Furlong told The Tiger as he looks to get back to full fitness.
“I have been out for five to six months, so it is going to take a couple of games to build myself fully back, but in the first two games, I think I have given a decent account of myself. I played two different positions. Centre half, I haven’t played as much in my career, so that was another opportunity to show another part of my game. I played left back against Birmingham, so that was more familiar for me, but there were both positive games for me, and I just want to build on both of them.
“It has been really tough. I picked it up at the end of last season when I was on loan at Wimbledon, and I missed Wembley, and then you work so hard over the off-season and pre-season to get back fully fit, and I did it again,” explained Furlong.
“I became fit just as the season started, and obviously I broke down again, but it was a really tough time, because I thought I did everything in my rehab to my maximum and you work so hard to get fully back into training with the lads, which I had done, and then a week in I did a similar sort of tear.
“It was tough to take, but I have learnt a lot about myself, and you obviously reflect and think about what I can do better when I come back. Now that I am back and getting minutes and getting closer, I just want to get better and better, but it was tough to deal with and I had some days where it was quite low, but it is all worth it in the end when you get back out on the pitch.”
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