Bray may be on horizon for Damien Duff

He is well on the road to recovery and with a clear destination in mind: Damien Duff is hoping to make his League of Ireland debut before the season is out.

Beyond saying he expects it will be for a Dublin club – or possibly one close by – the former Irish international is, it appears, open to offers.

Money is not an issue, he maintains, but first, if he’s to fulfil what would surely be the final dream of an illustrious career, he has to complete his rehab from the serious injury he suffered while playing for Melbourne City in February and which brought his Australian odyssey to a premature end.

”I was on crutches until two or three weeks ago and I’m more or less learning how to walk and run now,” he says. ”What happened? Ah I dunno, probably too many miles on the clock, I reckon. I just rocked my ankle and all the ligaments and tendons snapped. Someone just tipped off me - it looked like a dive.

"It was a six-month injury but the surgery was straightforward. I just have to let it heal now. I’m in the final stages of rehab so hopefully I can play in a couple of months.”

He has had “a few texts – nothing major” in terms of contact with SSE Airtricity League clubs but, no matter happens, he has brought his family home to Ireland to stay and insists he won’t play outside the country again.

”I’m home for good. I’ll go to the AUL after the League of Ireland! I like playing football. It gives me something to focus on. If you retire and you haven’t got an awful lot going on, it could be a bit dangerous. I just want to keep playing football, be happy and be healthy and well.

“I’ve no preference really (in terms of a club). It’s far from a bidding war. I’ve had two six-month injuries in the past two years, I’m 36 and I guess at this stage reputations count for nothing. It’s like starting all over again, I just want to get fit and play well in the league. I don’t want to come back and play like a muppet.”

An opportunity to enhance his development as a coach might help make up his mind – by the sound of things, it would certainly count for more than whatever ends up in his LOI pay packet.“

“I’m doing my coaching badges at the end of the month, starting my ‘B’,” he explains. “The money thing? I’m not in it for the money, it’s for the joy of playing the game. I’m not arsed about that (the money). I just literally want to play football.”

Would he be leaning towards a Dublin club?

“Yeah, I can’t really see myself commuting to the west coast or anything like that.” Or, for that matter, a Wicklow club?

“It’s only down the road,” he says, referring to Bray Wanderers being in close proximity to the Duff family home in Stepaside, “but we’ll see, I have to get fit first.”

Meantime, the Duffer tells us that he’s going to miss his first chance to see Ireland play since his retirement after Euro 2012 because he has a prior engagement on the day Martin O’Neill’s men take on Scotland at the Aviva.

“Actually, I would have gone,” he explains, “but my ma got her pension so that day she’s taking all the kids away on holiday (to Lanzarote). So I have to go - the ma’s the boss in my house.”

Duff was speaking at the announcement of a new Sports Medicine Programme, a joint initiative from the Beacon Hospital and First Ireland, which will see thousands of amateur players over the age of 16 – and whose clubs have personal accident cover with First Ireland Clubcare – being able to access the highest standards of specialist care.

“It’s amazing,” says Duff. “Amateur players get bad injuries like the rest of us so to be looked after by top people more or less free of charge is amazing. Obviously when I heard there was free scans I was straight over myself because I love an oul’ scan (laughter). But this is amazing. It gets players back on the pitch quicker so fair play to everyone involved.”