Keith Treacy recalled how he walked in on a naked Damien Duff ahead of his senior international debut.
The former Blackburn and Burnley man won his first Ireland cap in the 2010 friendly against Argentina - and it was a chance to catch up with a man he knew only fleetingly at Ewood Park.
Treacy, who arrived at Blackburn as a teenager just weeks before Duff’s €20m move to Chelsea, was chosen to room with the tricky winger on international duty.
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But he got more than he bargained for when he walked through the door.
“I came across him an awful lot during my time with Ireland,” said Treacy, who will be part of Virgin Media’s coverage of Duff’s Shelbourne side against St Patrick’s Athletic tonight.
“On my first cap for Ireland, I actually walked into the room he was staying in when he was having a shower.
“Duffer walked out in the nip and I was standing there in the room. That was one of my first ever meetings with my hero.
“Not great, but they say never meet your heroes!”
Seven years earlier, the pair had briefly met at Blackburn, before Duff’s departure for the bright lights of London.
“I signed for Blackburn and I was doing a training session, and he came down and introduced himself to me and said hello.
“I think it was literally two or three weeks later that he was off to Chelsea, so I didn’t get to meet him at Blackburn per say.”
Treacy admits he struggled at Ewood Park with expectations that he was going to be Duff’s replacement.
“A lot of people made the comparison straight away between me and Damien, and in hindsight it probably didn’t do me any favours,” he said.
“Damien went to Chelsea pretty sharpish and people were saying, it’s okay, we have the next Damien Duff in the academy, it’s only a matter of time.
“It was everywhere. I’d walk down to the receptionist and she’d say, Oh my God, you even sound like Damien. I couldn’t escape it.”
Treacy is now coaching St Patrick’s Athletic’s Under-17 side - so having experienced academy life both in England and Ireland, he describes the set-ups as “chalk and cheese”.
“We get our lads on the pitch for six or seven hours per week. In that time, we’re trying to drum in technique work, tactical sessions etcetera,” he said.
“There’s so many points you want to get across but we don’t have the time.
“During my first years at Blackburn, I was up at 8am, two hours of technique work before going out for a physical training session and back in for weights.
“Later on, I’d return to the indoor arena to work on my own areas.
“We lived on-site in digs, so during downtime I’d go into the hall and bang the ball off the wall. It was constant technique, technique.
“Mason Melia (St Pat’s and Ireland U17) doesn’t get that now but there’ll be hair on his chest from playing first-team matches, going into full-blooded tackles which I wasn’t in the Blackburn reserves.
“There’s two sides to it and which one is best will come out in time.”
# Keith Treacy will be part of Virgin Media Television’s live coverage of Shelbourne vs St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night. It is one of five live SSE Airtricity Premier Division games upcoming on VMTV.
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