Former Swindon Town title winner Eoin Doyle has spoken about his use of painkillers towards the end of his football career.

Doyle was an instant sensation in his solitary season at Swindon, scoring 25 goals in 28 appearances as he fired Town to their 2019/20 points-per-game League Two title.

The Dublin-born striker was 31 years old when he joined Swindon and would retire from football in 2023 following spells at Bolton Wanderers and St Patrick’s Athletic.

Speaking to Mirror Sport, he discussed the methods he had to use to get through the punishing schedule of lower-league football towards the end of his career.

He said: “Before I came back from England, five or six times I would have had IV paracetamol before matches.

“My wife Ciara is a nurse by trade, and I’d say it to her, and she’d say, 'People get that in car crashes, and you are having that just to get through a match'.

“My body was sore, and I couldn’t get through matches without painkillers, so not having to take painkillers is great.

“I used to have really sore hips. I’d be making what Ciara calls ‘dad noises’ getting up off the couch. I don’t have those pains now.

“I didn’t really stop throughout my career. I only had two injuries and I think they were two months each. That was it, they were the only times where I kind of downed tools.

“There is definitely an unhealthy element to professional sports. If you are popping pills to get through matches and stuff, it’s not doing great things to your insides, I’d imagine.

“It was just part of the game for me. In England the games were Saturday-Tuesday and if the pain was really bad, you kind of had to start building up the day before with painkillers.”

Doyle said that he has enjoyed retirement as he has been able to reduce the pain that he was in and not rely on painkillers.

He said: “Me not doing anything for three months, I know I’ve put on some weight and stuff because I’ve kind of indulged, but I don’t have the pain anymore.

“For me, retirement kind of reset my body completely.

“I’d say the body took a bit of a pounding over the years. But I feel great now. I’ve been able to go out and run and pop out to the gym and stuff. It’s a lot easier now.”