Louth 'felt right in the gut' says Dublin hero Ger Brennan as he plots Blues' downfall
'If I wasn’t involved in Gaelic games, I don’t know what I’d be doing. I could be watching every Premiership match and drinking pints in the pub – not that there’s anything wrong with that, too, once it’s balanced.'
There were a few years where Ger Brennan’s name consistently featured on shortlists for inter-county jobs.
At club level he had managed Bray Emmetts in Wicklow and Moorefield in Kildare as well as being part of Niall Carew’s ticket in Carlow.
He was linked with the Monaghan job before it fell to Vinny Corey. Laois, among others, were supposed to be interested at one stage too.
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But it was Louth where he landed in October. So, why there?
"We had twins a year and a half ago and we have a six and a five-year-old,” Brennan explains.
“My background is obviously playing and secondary school teaching, chaplaincy, youth ministry. The role in UCD [where he’s Gaelic Games Development Executive], while there's a bit of coaching and management involved, it's kind of quite administrative so I was probably missing out on that classroom teaching and learning environment.
“That led me back to more actively coaching and working with teams. Sometimes your name is out there and, rightly or wrongly, you might get a few phone calls. It all comes down to what's for you won't pass you.
“I received a phone call from Louth to see would I be interested in putting a management team together and sitting down for an interview. It felt right in the gut.
“I had a couple of chats with the executive at the time, got a few fellas around me and the rest is history. I'm also living in the northside of Dublin so it's not the longest of journeys to travel either."
Still, with four children aged six and under, taking on an inter-county job would be a hard sell in most households.
“I’ve a great wife, Aisling. We’re fairly organised. From the time we started going out to getting married I was either playing football or working evenings in UCD. We haven’t known anything different.
“If I wasn’t involved in Gaelic games, I don’t know what I’d be doing. I could be watching every Premiership match and drinking pints in the pub – not that there’s anything wrong with that, too, once it’s balanced.
“For me, I’d be lost without sport and the bigger picture of Gaelic games is something I’ve always been attracted to – like the majority of Irish people; that sense of belonging, the key slogan of the GAA, Where We All Belong, is hugely attractive.
“Being part of something, like a Louth senior football team or St Vincent’s or UCD or even the GAA diaspora abroad means you’re only a question away from finding a common link and talking hurling and football. I very much love it and it’s part of the DNA in this household.
“Aisling, my wife, her grandfather was goalkeeper on the last Waterford team to win the Liam MacCarthy, Ned Power, in 1959 so there’s a lot of GAA in the blood.”
And his blood is Dublin blue. A member of the side that won the breakthrough All-Ireland in 2011 and again two years later, he’s now plotting the downfall of some that he played with.
Dublin are bidding for a 14th consecutive Leinster title on Sunday against his Louth side and, indeed, Brennan was on the last team from the capital to lose a game in the province back in 2010.
“I suppose all great teams, all great legacies, eventually come to an end. Maybe this is Louth’s time to end Dublin’s dominance of Leinster, and that dream – that hope – is always there.
“You don’t have to look too far in the recent past, to look at different sports and codes, where teams that are not the favourites end up pulling one out of the bag and putting the favourites on the back foot.
“There is always that hope there, and again there are numerous examples of where it has happened before.”
Still, plotting against a team that he gave so much to, with some surviving teammates to boot, does bring some level of conflict though nothing that tugs too hard at Brennan at this stage, nine years removed from the Dublin dressing room.
“On a human level it’s something that is a new experience and, you know, two of our four kids were in at the match [semi-final double header] and they had Dublin gear and Louth gear on them so it was a lovely experience for our family last week.
“That aside, I’m very much enjoying the experience and the challenge and the journeys so far with Louth. What’s impressed me most about them is I see no different in how these Louth players are working and their enthusiasm to get better. I see no difference between them from when I was playing with Dublin.
“I’ve been out of the loop since 2015 so probably emotionally, my heart isn’t pulled that much at the moment but it’s just a privilege for me to be part of the Louth set up, to be working with lads who are so committed.
“Again, I can see a lot of similarities between current Louth players and obviously some of the Dubs and some of the lads that soldiered with before and obviously some of them are still playing.
“But I’m able to park and compartmentalise in my head where I’m from and what I’ve been asked to do so very much focused on the task at hand."
So, will it be red or blue for the kids this Sunday?
“I think they’re going to have a mixture on - either way they’ll come out winning!"
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