Ireland’s Scott Hogan in action against Scott McKenna of Scotland during the UEFA Nations League B match in 2022. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Former Ireland striker Scott Hogan says he considered walking away from football after a difficult spell with crisis club Birmingham City last season.
The 32-year-old scored on his full debut for League Two side MK Dons last weekend, finding the net in a 3-1 win away to Morecambe. It was his first goal in 15 months and a first start since last February when he was with a Birmingham City side heading for relegation to the third tier.
Hogan was, along with John Egan, Aaron Connolly, Cyrus Christie, Alex Pearce and Jeff Hendrick, in a group of current or former internationals who started the new season without a club. Egan (Burnley), Connolly (Sunderland) and Pearce (non-league Leatherhead) have since found a club while Christie is currently training with Swansea City, but Hogan signed a deal with MK Dons only this month.
He scored just once in 26 games for Birmingham in that relegation season and he was on the verge of quitting before landing up with MK Dons.
Ireland’s Scott Hogan in action against Scott McKenna of Scotland during the UEFA Nations League B match in 2022. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
“I fell out of love with football. There was a lot of things going on, and I was asking myself whether I wanted to do it any more, was it worth being unhappy all the time?” he says.
“As the summer dragged on, I was getting a bit itchy, ‘is there anything there?’, but nothing really appealed to me. When the season kicked off, I thought ‘I want to play’ – I’m 32 but there’s no real mileage on my legs. I’ve got years left in me and it was a case of ‘don’t waste it’. It made me hungry again [joining MK Dons] so that’s where I am now.
“This really appealed to me, it’s an hour on the train so I can still be at home with the family. I’ve still got years left in me, so I don’t want to waste it.”
Hogan won the last of his caps in the 3-2 win over Armenia in 2022.