‘Hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg’

LEADING by example is a wellworn cliché when referring to the captain of a successful team.

However, it is a difficult one to stay clear of when writing an article on St Colmcille’s Ben Brennan.

The 24-year-old has certainly stepped up to his responsibilities in the last 12 months, when a lesser player might have choked at the vital moment of a crucial match.

Brennan suffered a head injury in the opening round of the Leinster campaign against Arklow Geraldines, which forced him to miss the semi-final against Round Towers of Kildare.

However, he was back for the Leinster final against Rosemount and it was his pointed free in the third and final minute of added time that separated the sides at the final whistle.

Roll on to the All-Ireland semi-final against Pomeroy, and with the sides locked level and extra time a distinct possibility, Brennan again showed nerves of steel as he stepped up to a 45-metre free and split the posts for the winning point.

‘The lads get me into a position to be able to do that, so that is just one of my jobs on the team, to put the ball over the bar,’ the modest Brennan said at last Friday’s recent press night in Piltown. ‘I don’t really think of it as me pulling it out of the fire.

‘I don’t put too much emphasis on being captain. I just love the club and I love the Gaelic. It was an honour to be made captain, but just being here with the club and with the lads is amazing.

‘Maybe in a few years’ time, when I look back at it, it will mean more to me then, but right now my main aim is to get the lads in the right frame of mind and with the right mentality going into Croke Park.

‘We are playing great football at the moment and we are not panicking if we go behind. We did drop off big time against Pomeroy, but when we needed it we came up with the goods. We got the goal, then we got the point. No one really panicked. All we think about is the next ball and trying to get it and get another score.’

Brennan believes that there is a mindset and mentality throughout the team that might not have been there in previous years.

‘Winning the Corn na Boinne gave us the belief. Getting that first trophy in the bag was important. In the final against Castletown we were five points down in the first half without scoring and we looked all over the place, but then we just turned it around, so that gave us the belief and the mentality to keep going.

‘The Corn na Boinne seems like a couple of seasons ago at this stage. I’d advise everyone to try to get any trophy they can because they don’t come around too often. The Corn na Boinne gave the lads hunger for more, so we didn’t celebrate it too much because we had bigger fish to fry.

‘In training we have over 30 lads who are all working hard and you are going into the last 20 minutes of every game with lads coming off the bench who can improve the team.

‘We are not making subs because lads are tired or to get fresh legs on. We have players coming on to try to win us the game. It is a different set-up than I have been involved with before with St Colmcille’s.

‘Winning the Meath IFC was the main goal because we need to be a senior club with the amount of young lads we have coming through our academy. With the amount of soccer and rugby around this area, it is really important that the Gaelic stands up. So getting to the All-Ireland final has been great.

‘If you come down here on a Sunday morning and see the amount of kids that are here, it is amazing. Hopefully we are after starting something fairly big. Hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg for us.’