THE START IS
a first-team contract, I got to see the stadium, Damien Duff, I support Chelsea, so that was a big thing for me and my dad; we got sucked into all that and we ended up signing.
“Covid then happened in 2020 and very early on I realised it was going to be tough.
“I thought I’d be closer to the first-team than I was. Maybe that was down to myself, not realising sooner and working harder.
“I ended up going on-loan to Dunfermline, my first loan, and Covid happened after five games, so that was cut short.
“That was a great loan, the experience, playing in front of fans, it was really beneficial. But it was cut short.
Bonuses
“Then I went to Dundee. There were experienced players there, so you still got to see what it was like playing for points and bonuses, so I started really well there.
“I scored in my first game and then I was out because of a hamstring injury, which came at a bad time because I was playing really well.
“Every time I returned back to Celtic there was a new manager, so I never really got to get my foot in the door.”
He moved home last summer and signed for Bohs, and this year he finished joint-top scorer with Shelbourne’s Jack Moylan with 15 goals.
Afolabi netted in the Gypsies’ FAI Cup final defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic last month, while he also won a senior Ireland call-up in September.
“Halfway through the season something clicked,” he said. “Staying back after training, working hard with the manager, the coaches and tactically, really helped and I started getting goals.
Predicted
“We ended up in a final then, which I kind of predicted at the start of the season, that we’d get there.
“We obviously didn’t win the final, but it was a great experience and obviously apart from the result I wouldn’t change the atmosphere that I felt that day and the feeling I had going into that game.”