For Keith Fahey, Sunday's FAI Cup final marks the end of a season which began with great expectations.

The prodigal son's return to St Patrick's Athletic was the good news tale of last winter, an arrival that was hailed as a progressive step in the perpetual battle to promote the League of Ireland.

If he can mastermind success in the Aviva Stadium showdown with Derry City, his campaign will have a happy ending. But, while the poster boy would love to be able to present a positive image of his year, he feels it would be more beneficial to speak the truth.

And that truth is less than complimentary about the Irish football environment and, specifically, the quality of its working conditions.

His status should ensure that his words carry weight and send a message to the highest powers, although you sense that he won't be holding his breath.

Torrential

"I'm not gonna lie to you and say it's been brilliant," said the 31-year-old on Tuesday, sitting in the main stand at Richmond Park to shelter from the torrential rain.

"It's been a little bit disappointing. I just think, without being negative to the league or anything. . . some of the grounds haven't had a lick of paint since I've been away.

"All I hear is talk about making the league better every year. Better this and better that. But there doesn't seem to be much change, to be honest."

There was curiosity amongst the wider sporting public about the 16-times capped Irish international's decision to come home, a move largely prompted by personal circumstances.

The bemusement was drawn from the belief that he would find it too much of a comedown, having sampled the glamour of the Premier League and enjoyed the trappings that come with the highest level of the game.

Fahey is aware of that viewpoint, but his most striking observations stem from his comparison with the state of play in Ireland when Birmingham came calling to take him from St Pat's in 2008. They provide his reference point.

"I've seen the other side of the game," he says. "But I've also seen it from when I was here before and I think, from there, it has not made any steps forward in terms of facilities.

"There's people paying good money into games - €15 is a lot of money to expect people to pay and some of the facilities are an absolute disgrace to be honest. That sort of stuff, it's disappointing.

"I don't know who is in control of it. I know clubs haven't got the funds, the FAI haven't got the funds, but things can be done to improve things without breaking the bank. Things can be done on a minor level.

"The way it feels to me anyway is that it (attitude) is just 'ah it doesn't matter', it'll just tick along."

In his mind, it is a recent trip to Drogheda which stands out as the nadir, a prime example of the unacceptable idiosyncrasies of the domestic game.

"We were up there a few weeks ago," he sighs. "And I'm not joking you, the showers were like a tap and the water was scalding. It was going off everywhere. I mean, that stuff. . . it's not like you're asking for bleeding velvet carpets or anything like that, ya know? It's just basic stuff and that sort of stuff would drive you mad but it is what it is.

"You have to be honest. People ask me about it and I'm not gonna sit here and say 'this is brilliant'. It's not. There's things wrong everywhere. The league has been great for me at a time where I needed it, in terms of getting my confidence back and getting away to England and getting international caps and all of that.

"And there seems to be a lot of younger players in the league now. I'm getting on in years and it's tougher to get after them," he adds, with a smile. "But it's tough. We have to be honest."

It doesn't help that he joined a St Patrick's Athletic side which struggled to meet the expected standards this term, with their attempts to retain their league title falling short. Fahey indicates that things just weren't right in the first part of the season.

"Football-wise, we've been indifferent," he confesses, before adding, "Since the Legia Warsaw (Champions League) games, we've been a lot better as a group. I've enjoyed training a lot more since then."

He speaks in a manner which lends itself to the conclusion that he could be packing his bags and moving abroad again at the end of the season.

However, the rumour mill has suggested that Shamrock Rovers are making concerted attempts to lure the Tallaght man in their direction. But he refuses to be drawn down that road, politely making it clear that he's putting any thoughts about life beyond Sunday on hold.

"I'll get the cup final out of the way and see," he says. "My future is undecided. It's undecided as a whole. I don't know what I'm going to do, if I'll be moving or staying. It's more than likely I'll be staying in Ireland."

Before that, he does have an important box to tick. Fahey did win a League Cup with Birmingham but, in an Irish context, his cup final memories are grim. In 2003, he was a petulant 20-year-old and a two-footed lunge at Lansdowne earned him a red card in a deflating defeat to Longford. It was typical of his volatility at that juncture.

"We didn't play well," he recalls, "I played the left side of midfield and was probably a bit sulky about that. I didn't react in a good way and the game was a nightmare. It was a silly thing to do in a cup final, to get sent off, it was stupid and reckless. I've changed my ways a good bit since then."

This time around, he will be a senior head, looking to lead by example to first-timers such as promising defender Sean Hoare. Fahey will not be intimidated by a stage he knows well from his international exploits and will go through his usual routine for settling into games.

"I have my own plan. It's just about getting a first pass in, a second pass, try and get Conan (Byrne) in a couple of times down the right-hand side and build momentum from there," he explains.

"When I play well, that's what happens. We start like that and get moving forward. It would be nice if get going at Derry and play football from the start."

He smiles wryly when he is reminded of his last Aviva date, the 6-1 humbling at the hands of Germany in October 2012.

"I'm not one to say that I did my job," he responds. "But when I came off (in the 51st minute) it was 2-1. It was 5-1 ten minutes later. We'd gone 4-5-1 and there were questions when I came off. "Were you tired?" and, yeah, I was tired. We'd been chasing the ball the whole game.

"I don't know what we were expected to do in that game. Were we expected to impose ourselves on it? Get on the ball and outpass the Germans? It was tough alright."

Fahey dropped out of the international picture after that match, and the fact that German group went on to become world champions hasn't really sugar-coated the memory. Still, given the road he's travelled, he can try and bring that episode into his next challenge and channel it positively.

"I've played against some serious footballers in my time," he says. "And hopefully I will again some day, I don't know. I've got a lot of experience, both good and bad, that I can use for Sunday."

Irish Independent