He doesn't have the look of a grizzled veteran, so it's hard to believe that Robbie Brady could be ten years older than any member of an Ireland squad.

The presence of Troy Parrott in camp this week has changed that. Brady was born in January 1992.

His fellow Dubliner, Parrott, was a February 2002 baby. There's a novelty value around his presence in the squad as Brady was used to being the young man in an old dressing room.

At Euro 2016, Brady, Jeff Hendrick and Shane Duffy were the freshest faces to start a game. In a short space of time, the profile has changed.

Brady can relate to Parrott's situation, however, regardless of the age gap. His arrival as the next big thing is a reminder that a decade has passed since he was saddled with expectation at Manchester United. Watching Parrott train prompted introspection.

Envy

For Brady, there is a tinge of envy that the Spurs player seems to be tuned into what's required while on the books of a top club. It was only moving out of Old Trafford that delivered a young Brady that realisation.

"When I was younger I didn't have the drive that it took to force myself into a Manchester United first team," admits Brady.

"I was sort of thrown in there. I was young, away from everyone. I was going back to Dublin all the time.

"In hindsight I would have done some things different. I was a young lad from Dublin, I'd just signed for Man United. I was on top of the world. Anything anyone said to me I was taking it in my stride.

"Not that I'd thought I'd made it by any means. When you go to a club of such stature, you may have a good name here but when you go over there you have to prove yourself and do all things right, which I didn't do, half of the time."

There was a theory that his personality wasn't forceful enough. There's a well-told story from his early days when Alex Ferguson tore into him for not standing up to Cristiano Ronaldo who took his place in the canteen queue.

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"All stories grow arms and legs," he smiles, without denying the veracity. "Maybe there was a bit of naivety. I was a young lad from Dublin.

"Some of the lads who would have been around clubs like Man United from seven, eight, nine years of age, they had a feel for it. It probably took me a couple of years to get all that on board.

"It's great for Troy now," said Brady, agreeing that Parrott might be more clued in.

"No one pushes on as quick as he does without going in and doing things right. He seems to have got his head down, he's training well, pushing on great, and progressing great.

"It's mad because, we haven't been blessed with youth in the squad. It's brilliant that he's come in as the fresh face, the stature of him for 17. It's brilliant. He's clever, he's got an eye for a pass, an eye for a goal, a big frame.

"We'll look after him as best as we can this week and get to know him that bit better before the games. He's a confident young lad, he didn't train like he was nervous yesterday.

"We'll help him if he needs anything but he doesn't seem to need anything at the minute."

Leaving United for Hull was the trigger for Brady to advance to another level.

He's forged a very respectable career for himself, but the prospect of another campaign-defining game with Denmark offers the Burnley player the chance to draw a line under a two-year spell in his career which he describes as 'awful.'

A month after the 5-1 defeat to the Danes in November 2017, Brady suffered a freakish knee injury that kept him out for the guts of ten months and it's been very stop-start since then. In some respects, he's been the forgotten man.

"You think everything is going to be perfect as soon as you have been stitched up and you are nearly going to be ready to go, but the surgeon told me it was going to be close to two years before I am back to my best, not that I believed him for a second," he grins.

"I just thought 'What does he know.' Things tended to pile up after that and it seems to have been one thing after another."

Brady says he used the absence productively - experimenting with changes to his diet - and looked at other aspects of his fitness that wouldn't be a concern for a player that was occupied with games.

It's part of the realisation that he has entered that phase of his career where managing his body is priority.

"I have picked up a lot of different traits, both mentally and physically to make myself the best that I can be," he asserts.

A sense of trying to compensate for lost time has built his anticipation around this international window.

He made contact with Mick McCarthy to find out why he had missed out on the autumn squads.

Lack of game-time was the response, but he's upped his contribution at Burnley and will feature against New Zealand tomorrow with a view to a greater role in this Danish decider.

Even though there are new kids on the block, Brady still has plenty of time to add a few more chapters to his Irish story.

Irish Independent