The Wanderer returns

JOEY O’BRIEN didn’t expect to be in Dublin this week. After all, he has only been back playing first-team football at Bolton Wanderers this last three weeks.

The 15 months prior to that were spent largely on an exercise bike at Bolton’s training centre recovering from injury and watching the rest of the first-team squad being put through their paces out on the pitch. Saturday’s naturally, he spent in the stands.

“Fifteen months is a long, long time,” he says with a pinch of understatement. “The main thing is that it’s in the past now. My knee is fine, I’m back playing in the Premier League and the UEFA Cup. That’s all that counts.