Lee Desmond's California dreamin' after Sacramento start

If it has been all change for St Patrick's Athletic since their FAI Cup final win last November, that's even more the case for one of their defensive rocks of recent years, Lee Desmond.

The 27-year-old has taken the plunge for a change of scenery, ending a six-year spell at Inchicore and taking his career all the way across the world to California, where he has just started the season with United Soccer League side Sacramento Republic.

"It's actually an interesting story how the move came about," Desmond told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast after a Friday training session with his new club, who occupy the second tier of US soccer, albeit in a system where promotion and relegation does not exist unlike in Ireland and much of the globe.

"I had opportunities last year (to move) but I'm glad I didn't because we had such a good year at Pat's and won the cup which was such a big goal of mine.

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"If we lost the final I was already gone, that's the truth. I knew I needed a change from the league. I was in the league for eight years and it was getting a little bit repetitive for me and I just wanted a change.

"Especially with Covid I was sort of saying, 'Jesus, your career's so short here'. For four months we were out of work and I was saying, 'Am I even a footballer anymore?' You sort of have them thoughts like everybody else. So I said, right, this is the time to go."

Contacts were needed to try and broach a possible move Stateside and that's where a former Saint made a timely intervention.

"I made a