Oh How I missed being a part of it

DUBS ACE BRIAN GLAD TO BE BACK IN BLUE AFTER TRAVELS

- PAT NOLAN

IF a change is as good as a rest, then Brian Howard got the best of both worlds last winter.

Having been involved in Dublin squads since he was a child, the 25-year-old had itchy feet.

So he took off for South-East Asia after Raheny finished up at the back end of last year with his girlfriend and another couple for 10 weeks.

He was back for a couple of weeks at Christmas, taking in some Dublin training while he was home, before heading off for another eight weeks, largely spent in Indonesia.

"I had a sit down with Dessie Farrell, Howard explained.

"There is more to life than football and you can sort of get blinded by that a bit.

"In the off-season last year, it was something I had always wanted to do, thankfully I have played with Dublin since development squads at under-13 so I haven't had an opportunity to go away. The way my career, off the field and on the field, has gone, it was fairly intense.

"But I got an opportunity to go away and I thought it was the right time. It was a huge risk to take but I enjoyed it.

"The hunger never left but I'm hungrier more than ever now. It was a risk but the management said, 'Be under no illusion, when you come back in you are not going to be handed anything just off reputation'.

"It wasn't an easy ride but it was a grand conversation."