Rome wasn't built in a day and Damien Delaney doesn't look like he'll reveal what links, if any, he has with AS Roma in the near future, either.

In the wake of the announcement of his decision to rejoin Cork City last Friday, Delaney received messages of congratulations from the club's English-language Twitter account, with a story circulating that he had saved the life of a club's director's child.

If that is the case, then the nine-times-capped defender isn't looking for any adulation.

"There's no story, definitely not the one going around about me saving someone or something like that, that's definitely not true," he said.

"I appreciate Roma for their efforts, maybe the guy that runs the account is possibly a Palace fan, I don't know. I genuinely don't know, that's the only link I could possibly see.

"People seem to be getting good mileage out of it. I don't know, I'm not big on the whole social media thing, just people texting me saying what's going on. I'm not 100 per cent sure what it is, but I know there's something there. It's quite humorous, to be honest!"

The former Crystal Palace man was far more forthcoming with his reasons for returning.

"It was never about money," he said. "If I was about money, I'd have gone foreign and chased it. I understand full well that Cork City are under financial restrictions, they can't compete with anything, but it's my choice to come here.

"I chose this route so I'm not going to complain or say that I could have got this or could have got that.

"I knew what was on offer elsewhere and I knew what was on offer here and I chose this and I'm ecstatically happy to be here. It was more about playing football and getting my girlfriend a settled life."

Irish Independent