Brennan passes up hat-trick chance
SEAN Brennan selflessly turned down the opportunity to record what would have been his first hat-trick for Drogheda United in order to help out teammate Chris Lyons.
The 32-year-old midfielder had already scored two free kicks from 30 yards out down in Wexford on Friday night when Mark Doyle was fouled in the box and referee Carey pointed to the spot. So there was some surprise when Lyons stepped forward before successfully converting the penalty kick.
Asked why he hadn’t taken on the responsibility himself, Brennan revealed: ‘Chris is our main striker and the focal point of our team and he’s a great lad who works really hard for us.
‘But he hadn’t scored, even in pre-season, and I thought it would be a good idea to get that monkey off his back and he needs to take penalties more than I do.
‘It doesn’t bother me - scoring’s not my thing and I just chip in whenever I can. I might have scored a hat-trick for Monaghan a few years back but I’m not 100% sure!
‘As I said, though, it doesn’t bother me who scores the goals, once we get the three points.’
As it happened, Lyons did go on to score again in the 61st minute before he too missed out on the opportunity of a hat-trick as he was substituted.
Brennan himself had no further chances to score in the game as he was stretchered off in first-half injury time and he will be assessed by doctors in the next 24 to 36 hours.
‘I don’t really know what the injury is,’ he admitted, speaking on Sunday evening.
‘The weekend that’s in it, the doctor can’t get me until Tuesday or Wednesday. It’s some sort of tear in my knee, not as bad as I first thought, but I won’t be fit for the Galway game [this Friday].’ •Sean Brennan’s younger brother Ryan played the full 90 minutes for St Patrick’s Athletic in their 1-0 defeat by Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght on Friday night. Killian, the most senior of the local siblings, and Tenure teenager Thomas Byrne are back in training with St Pat’s after recovering from injury.