Former Republic of Ireland teammates, Stephen Hunt believes that it would be "virtually impossible" for Stephen Ireland to resume a football career at the game's top level.
In a lengthy interview with The Athletic, the 33-year-old Ireland, who has not played a game of professional football since 2018, admitted that he retains hopes of not only a return to football, but a second chance at international football also.
Thirteen years after the Cork native's promising career with the Republic of Ireland ran aground, Stephen Hunt, in an appearance on Wednesday's OTB AM, believes the likelihood of any such resurgence to be slim.
"Everyone has their own path in football," suggested Stephen Hunt when considering Ireland's lost potential, "and it would be unfair of me to question Stephen Ireland's career when he was playing really good football. The talent was always there."
After a tumultuous period, Ireland suggested in his interview that he had been keenly training and felt younger than his 33 years. Although he declared his desire to return, Hunt doesn't believe such an eventuality is feasible.
"Listen, since lockdown my times have improved too," he noted of his 5 km work-outs, "and I look OK beside my lads when playing football, but I can't play football - I couldn't.
"To be fair, he is only 33 and I think if he can get back playing at all and be in a good place, then give it a go for sure. But to get back to the level he was at is virtually impossible.
"I mean, you can be a Championship player and still get into the Ireland team, so I wouldn't rule it out maybe, because he was talented, but to get back into the Irish set-up would be 'Rocky Balboa' stuff really."
From his own perspective, although the 38-year-old Hunt has been keeping increasingly active in recent months, he has no notions of entertaining a return to football of any kind.
"Towards the end of lockdown I was running with Matt Doherty," he admitted of his training alongside the Wolves wing-back. "He was lapping me twice on a 400 metres track. So, I don't think I'll be coming back."
You can watch back Stephen Hunt in full here.
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