JOEY O’BRIEN IS not the type to bask in reflective glory or take credit for someone else’s hard work.
It would be the easy thing to do, especially when they are on the way up and most in football would be only too happy to claim a starring role in their rise.
The veteran Shamrock Rovers defender turned 35 earlier this year and will be out of contract at the end of this season.
He has started to plan for the future by working as a coach with the club’s Under-17s, while first team boss Stephen Bradley has gone on record as saying he expects O’Brien to become a manager.
So as 22-year-old teammate Liam Scales prepares for a potentially life-changing move – Celtic and at least one unnamed Premier League have made a bid this week – O’Brien could easily play up his part in Scales’s progression with tales of sage advice.
“See all that man, it’s not one of those things where it’s ‘listen, we’ll meet up and have a life story, telling you how good I was when I was your age and that shit’,” O’Brien insists.
“That’s remember when stuff. It’s the here and now that matters. It’s his time. It’s absolutely got nothing to do with me. It’s all down to himself. He has come in and worked really hard.
When he came to the club lads were thinking ‘Jaysis, he mightn’t get a lot of games’ the way the team had been settled.
But he’s brought his game to another level, took on board the coaching and physically got better, athletically got better and put himself in the shop window.”
Rovers face Albanian side Tueta in the first leg of their Europa Conference League third round qualifier at Tallaght Stadium tonight.
And O’Brien, who has won a FAI Cup and Premier Division title since returning from England in 2018, has a very simple tar
“To keep playing until my legs fall off. That’s it and it’s always been that. I’ve been doing it a long time, started when I was 15 or 16 so I’m blessed to be still going at this stage of my life.
“I’ll keep going till I basically can’t run. I’ll know when the time is up. Your touch, pass or technique doesn’t go; it’s your legs. Yeah, you’re a bit slower but you’re not able to get there, that’s it.
“You are only as good as your last game. Hopefully the manager picks me but someone could put five yards past me down the right. That could be it. I think I’m doing alright but it’s up to the manager. You can want to be here as long as you want but the manager…Since I’ve been here, he’s had that about him.
“He’ll make the call there and then. If you’re not good enough, you move on. I’m sure he’ll do that with me if I’m not able to perform. It’s the next man up
“Here, listen, I know I am on the last rodeo and you never want it to end,” O’Brien continued, admitting his understanding and reading of the game only gets him so far.
I dunno if it’s all in the mind. You still have to run, you still have to get up in the morning, peeling myself off the bed walking down the stairs and your body is creaking. It’s not just all in the mind.
“It’s obviously a lot tougher on the body when you get to this age, especially with a lot of surgeries I’ve had over the years. They take their toll. I suppose you get a better understanding of the game, more experience and I’ve played with some really good players along the way so little things they’ve taught you that I’ve picked up on, you implement it into your own game and own performance tactically.
“The style we play, the manager has put into place since I’ve come in here has been brilliant and made it really enjoyable to play the possession-based football. The formation we play and tactical changes he makes in games are really good. It’s another part of the game for the younger lads coming through that will only benefit them.”
Not that O’Brien will take any credit.
