Five-time League of Ireland winner Dane Massey is embarking on a new chapter in his life after calling time on his playing career.
The 35-year-old, capped for the Republic of Ireland in futsal, feels it is the right time to step away from a career bookended by spells at Bray Wanderers either side of his time at Drogheda United and, most notably, Dundalk.
"I'm hanging up the boots. I decided just before Christmas to do it, so hanging them up after probably 14-15 years in the league," he told RTÉ's Sunday Sport.
"I've been blessed throughout my career with injuries. I've never had a bad one and even this year I had a couple of options for clubs.
"My wife's had another baby and I decided, look, I've two healthy knees and two healthy hips and I said I'll get out while the going's good."
The core period of his trophy-winning years came during former Ireland manager Stephen Kenny's tenure and Massey has fond memories of his fellow Dubliner's impact.
"He was an amazing man manager to be honest. My first meeting with him, he didn't even want to know about football or what I do training wise," he said.
"He wanted to get to know me personally and he wanted to know about my family and he wanted to get a good feel for the sort of person I was and I felt that was the changing room I went into at Dundalk.
"We were all very similar, all headstrong kind of guys and there were no real messers in the group. We all had a plan and we all had that target. It just clicked really."
Initially, during his early days with Dundalk, he had combining football with work as an electrician at Jervis Shopping Centre in maintenance, before taking the risk to go full-time as a pro.
It's a decision that paid off when Massey looks at his league and FAI Cup medals - he would need to find where they are hidden first though by his own admission - as well as the European adventures.
He eventually switched to Dundalk's Louth derby rivals Drogheda United in 2021 although his unexpected departure from the Lilywhites was spurred on by the upheaval at Oriel Park during Italian coach Filippo Giovagnoli's brief time in charge.
"It was a strange time at Dundalk. The two Italians were there and there was going to be a lot of change," Massey said.
"I got a phonecall (from Giovagnoli) - I was there eight years - and it lasted a minute saying feel free to talk to other clubs.
"I can't have a blazing argument down the phone with Filippo and then who do I ring? The club had gone through a whole change. There was nobody I could ring there.
"So basically I just hung up the phone and said my time at Dundalk is finished and that was that."
The biggest changes he has noticed in a league that is often in flux, Massey pointed to a shift in commitment levels across two divisions where the playing staff's averages ages are getting younger and younger.
"Maybe it's coming out of Covid and young people are probably enjoying their weekends but definitely the commitment levels within the younger generation I feel is the biggest change," he said.
"It can be (a frustration). You'd always have a handful of players that are completely driven in what they want to do and achieve.
"You've young lads there in the gym everyday and then you've other lads that are just picking up a wage and they're getting away with it."
Massey pointed to a positive example of a player with huge commitment levels in the shape of his former Drogheda team-mate, Ireland Under-21 midfielder Killian Phillips, who is at Wycombe Wanderers on loan from Crystal Palace.
"In terms of playing in the league, they think they get called up to the first team that they've made it. There's only a handful there. Young Killian Phillips, he left Drogheda and signed for Palace and he's so driven. I've never seen a young lad to be as driven as him.
"He's in the gym. He was 17 but had the physique of a 28-year-old. He was a grown man and I wasn't surprised to see him go to Palace and he's flying at the minute as well."
As for what the next chapter holds, Massey is planning to try his hand at coaching with the Bray youth ranks to see how he enjoys it.
