IT’S A JOEY TO BEHOLD

O’brien fulfilling a wish in ending his career at home after a nightmare two years with injury

SEEING out his career in Ireland was always part of Joey O’brien’s blueprint - it just took some twists along the way.

The Ireland international and former West Ham defender made his Shamrock Rovers debut in Monday’s 1-0 defeat away to Cork. It was his first competitive game in 763 days having not played – because of injury – since the Hammers’ FA Cup win over Liverpool in February 2016. O’brien’s injuries – primarily his knee – have been well documented over the course of a career that saw him at Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham, where he won five caps.

But the Dubliner is loathe to rake the coals of those setbacks, joking that we wouldn’t have long enough to recount them over the course of this interview. Instead, he is eyeing up the next few years at Rovers insisting he is keen to stick with the Hoops beyond this season.

O’brien said: “I went twoand-a-half years without playing one time. It’s part of my career. It’s great to be back, it’s great to be playing for Rovers and to be involved again.

It’s been an unbelievable journey and I don’t really want to go over it again. But I wanted to come

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back. When I started out in England, I always wanted to finish off in Ireland. It probably didn’t work out the way I had envisioned but it’s come around.”

At 32, other players who have clocked the treatment table time that O’brien has under his belt might have just walked away and done something else.

But having watched chunks of his career pass him by, there is a determination about O’brien to make up for lost time.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “I’ve missed a lot of time through injuries, bad injuries. I went 18 months missing with knee injuries.

“But the last couple of years, since I left West Ham, it’s been foot down and this opportunity came up to work with the boys.

“The way they run the place, the manager and Stephen Mcphail, it’s going in the right direction and over the next few years, Rovers will be the main men.” O’brien added: “It just came to a stage where I was moving back home.

“I wanted to keep playing, so that was the main thing.

“I came back with my wife and kids. I’d been in England since I was 15. I want to keep playing and not just for one game, or three games.”

O’brien kept himself fit over with a stint in Canada, doing three sessions a day but is reluctant to go into any more detail on his travels to the other side of the world.

But it shows the focus he has to make the most of this final calling in his football career – a club he revealed he supported as a kid.

O’brien said: “Always Rovers. My family and I always went to watch them. Even when I was in England, I’d watch games when back home.

“I’ve always loved Irish football. When it’s all over, I probably won’t travelling down to Cork to watch them but I’ll be going to Tallaght.”