Player of the Year Robbie Brady says he 'never lost belief' he could get back to 2016 best

Robbie Brady has become a regular under Heimir Hallgrímsson. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Doubts existed within Robbie Brady as to whether he’d resume his Ireland career, never mind be feted with Player of the Year accolade.

He’s 33 now but injuries and being overlooked for a year by Stephen Kenny are the reasons why he’s on 70 caps rather than closing in on the century.

Time hasn’t solved the mystery. Brady was responsible for preventing another blemish on the Kenny era when he converted a late penalty to seal a 3-2 win at home to Armenia.

That was September 2023 but two months later he was left on the bench for a friendly in Malta.

By the start of the next year, he was out of the original squad for the Euro qualification opener against France, then reinstated and yet left in the Lansdowne Road stand alongside Troy Parrott as the two players excluded from the matchday 23.

The snubs continued throughout the year to the extent that it wasn’t until March 2024 that he featured again in a green shirt. Those were the caretaker matches of John O’Shea, who admitted ‘I love the kid’.

Affection continued after Heimir Hallgrímsson took up permanent residency.

Of the Icelander’s eight games, Brady’s only two absences in the starting line-up were due to injury. His rifled volley into the roof of the Finland next last October earned an away victory and him the bonus of FAI Goal of the Year.

Brady has regained the undroppable status conferred at the time he last won the personal gong, in the aftermath of his Euro 2016 heroics in France, “There are doubts around that time when you are not getting a call-up,” said the Preston North End left-sided player.

“I wasn’t fit at the time but I knew if I could get myself fit and looked after my body, and I got back playing, the rest was down to me to perform.

Brady with the Senior Men's International Player of the Year award at the National Indoor Arena Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

“I managed to do that and I never lost belief that I could get myself back. This award probably means more to me than the last one.

“It was down to a fitness thing. I don’t think you just forget how to play football.

“If I’m fit I can perform and I’ve managed to do that since I’ve come back in.” He’s just signed a contract extension that brings him beyond his 36th birthday and the intention is to make up lost ground.

“I missed out on some time and I’ll be looking to get that back if I can,” he admits.

“It’s down to how I look after myself and where the next couple of seasons take me. I’ll focus on the now. I’m fit at the minute. I’m feeling good and I feel like I’m playing some good football. I’ll focus on the now and see where it takes me.” 

Once these friendlies are complete, the journey to a World Cup begins in September.

While his name evokes memories of Lille and Lyon, creating new ones transatlantic are within his gaze.

“I’ll be looking at this as probably the last (World Cup) - there are no secrets about it,” he confessed.

“There’s no lying about it, I’m not getting any younger. You want to be involved in every tournament and we haven’t managed that over the last few.

“We know what it means to everybody - what a lift it will give to the country by qualifying for a World Cup.

“And, on a personal level, it would be absolutely incredible to go and play in a World Cup.

“The team we have now, it’s a physical young side and it suited me to come in and sort of play the role I’ve played. It’s about starting the campaign well and hopefully qualifying.”