Former Crystal Palace captain Damien Delaney has explained his decision to leave for Cork City.

The move to Cork was highlighted by AS Roma on social media.

Delaney said: "I appreciate Roma for their efforts, maybe the guy that runs the account is possibly a Palace fan, I don't know. I genuinely don't know, that's the only link I could possibly see.

"People seem to be getting good mileage out of it. I don't know, I'm not big on the whole social media thing, just people texting me saying what's going on. I'm not 100 per cent sure what it is, but I know there's something there. It's quite humorous, to be honest!"

The former Crystal Palace man was far more forthcoming with his reasons for returning.

"It was never about money," he said. "If I was about money, I'd have gone foreign and chased it. I understand full well that Cork City are under financial restrictions, they can't compete with anything, but it's my choice to come here.

"I chose this route so I'm not going to complain or say that I could have got this or could have got that.

"I knew what was on offer elsewhere and I knew what was on offer here and I chose this and I'm ecstatically happy to be here. It was more about playing football and getting my girlfriend a settled life."