Almost a year ago, Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley was of the opinion that his wing-back Neil Farrugia has "the potential to play for Ireland".
The former UCD player did get to the fringes of the senior picture during Stephen Kenny's tenure as Boys in Green boss, earning inclusion to a training squad and a spot on the stand-by list for friendlies against Malta and Norway at the end of 2022.
However, injuries have been an issue that Farrugia has had to contend with during his career and he faces another lay-off after going off on a stretcher during Shamrock Rovers' 1-1 draw against Dundalk in Friday's opening round of the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division season.
While there were initial fears that the 24-year-old had broken his collarbone, Bradley later confirmed that it was a dislocated shoulder which will still require a relatively lengthy period on the sidelines.
However long he is away from first-team action, the injury certainly robs the Hoops of the pace and power that Farrugia brings, attributes that can be somewhat in short supply within the league according to former Sligo Rovers, St Patrick's Athletic and Shamrock Rovers striker Eoin Doyle.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, he said: "There's not much pace and power in the league and Neil has that in abundance.
"When he gets the other side of a player, there's no catching him but unfortunately he's had a tough time with injuries in his career.
"But I think he needs to take confidence out of this one in the sense that it's a dislocated shoulder. It's not something muscular. It's just an unfortunate accident but he doesn't have to look at this as another setback really in the sense that it's not his muscle, it's not his body breaking down on him or anything like that."
Doyle, who retired last summer, also added that the main difference he found after returning to the League of Ireland in 2022 following a prolific decade in the UK, was the reduced emphasis on athleticism compared to what he saw in that time abroad.
"There was no difference in technical ability with players. Players in our league have great technical ability but the athleticism and the pace isn't quite here yet compared to over there definitely," he said.
Which makes any players possessing those attributes, like Farrugia, even more effective as he pointed to how Waterford benefited hugely from Maleace Asamoah's speed and directness in their 1-1 draw with Damien Duff's Shelbourne at the RSC, with the English forward on loan from Fleetwood Town opening the scoring.
"Once [Asamoah] got going, there was no stopping him and he got a little bit lucky with the finish but it was great to see him," said Doyle.
"There's nothing better than having a player in your team that has pace and knows how to use it and he certainly knew how to use it in that situation.
"He just opened his legs, went for it and got the reward at the end."
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