Portugal: popular destination for retirees looking to kick back and enjoy a slower pace of life, less so the ideal spot for an Irish footballer looking to kick-start a career. That is what Dominic Foley discovered when he signed for Braga in 2003.
The Cork native had agreed to join the little-known Portuguese club, with big plans to compete with the likes of Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica. It was this ambition, and the need for a fresh start, that lured Foley.
Having spent close to a decade shuttling around various clubs in England on loan in between trying to make it at Wolves and then Watford, the big striker knew that he had to get away.
The Republic of Ireland international briefly tasted life in another European league when he joined Greek outfit Ethnikos Piraeus in 1999, but that was short-lived. So when agent Mickey Walsh suggested going to Portugal, he jumped at the opportunity.
‘My agent had connections in Portugal due to his time playing for Porto and he also had a house there. He knew that I didn’t mind moving around, so he asked me whether I would be interested,’ Foley told Sportsmail.
‘I was open to the idea of it, so I went over and trained with them for 10 days and they were happy with what they saw and offered me a two-year deal. But after one year, I knew that I had had enough.
‘Braga is one of those old cities where everything is done tomorrow and it just wasn’t for me. My wife was with me at the time and we just weren’t happy there and never really settled.
‘Even though it was close to Porto, it felt like you were in the middle of nowhere. The heat wasn’t a huge factor, but the pace of life there didn’t suit and it was like living in the past sometimes with how slow it took to get things done.
‘The people are crazy about football, but it was a city that I never felt comfortable in and knew quite early that it was never going to work out. It is a place that I didn’t see myself having a future.’
Foley never settled into life as a Braga player either with just the one goal scored during a season that stopped and started more times than he would care to remember.
Braga were still a relatively modest club when he was employed by them, but a lot has changed since as they go into Wednesday’s Europa League final aiming to upset the odds against rivals Porto.
Imagine Foley’s surprise at the rise of the team known as the Archbishops, who have gone from a club struggling to get by to an outfit turning up at Aviva Stadium with a real chance of glory.
‘I’ve always kept an eye out for my former teams, so I was surprised to see Braga do so well. But to reach the Europa League final is quite amazing for the club,’ he said.
‘They don’t have single player left from my time there – it’s completely changed. I watched one of their games on TV and tried to see if I recognised any of the players, but not a single one was there when I was.
‘The whole club has changed, even the coach. And they’ve gone from being a top-eight team, when I was there, to a top-four team in Portugal, which is a huge achievement.
‘It is quite amazing how well they’ve done to reach the final. When I was there I never thought that they would be capable of that, but times change and they’ve obviously pumped a lot of money in.’
After his Portuguese misadventure, Foley returned to Ireland to play with Bohemians for two years before he got that wanderlust bug again and set off for Belgium, where he joined Gent.
The six-times capped Ireland striker has since moved onto Cercle Brugge, where he scored six goals in the season just finished. He admits to playing the best football of his career and is enjoying life.
Yet, the 34-year-old can’t help but think what way things might have turned out if he had stayed in the sleepy city of Braga. Maybe he could have been preparing for a European final in Dublin this week.
On second thoughts, he is glad that he left when he did as he still shudders at the thought of that ‘nightmare’ year spent in a sleepy corner of north-west Portugal.