Brian has lots in the tank yet
Malone determined to keep going for as long as he can
ONE HUNDRED and sixty six not out.
That may be an impressive figure for all the cricket aficionados out there, but it’s even more praiseworthy when you’re talking Gaelic football and it’s the number of times a player has lined out for his county.
Step forward Brian Malone as the Shelmaliers man is currently on that mark and is itching to get back to action to add to that impressive tally once we come out on the other side of this Covid-19 crisis.
That said, he’s not one for focusing too much on personal milestones, and although he recently surpassed the record of long-time team-mate Colm Morris, who appeared 164 times for the purple and gold, for Malone it’s all about playing his part for the team.
He has enjoyed glorious days, like beating Armagh to reach an All-Ireland semi-final in 2008, and dark days, when losing to London in the league last year, but the commitment has always been the same, come hail, rain or shine.
The classy defender has been lucky to avoid spells on the sideline due to injury during his lengthy career, although his superb fitness levels and teak toughness have certainly helped him along the way in that regard.
‘I’ve been a long time on the go, although I never really put much emphasis on the amount of games I’ve played. I was always happy to play and kept on trying to avoid injury and get on the field as often as possible.
‘I never really had a soft tissue injury. I’ve had a few bones being injured and things like that but not enough to keep me out of games. There’s probably a couple of games that I played that I shouldn’t have,’ he said.
Malone, who works as a teacher in St. Peter’s in Wexford town, is the kind of unsung hero that is the fabric of the G.A.A., having given his all for the honour of wearing the county jersey, and that sense of pride is obvious as he clearly wouldn’t have it any other way.
‘It’s more about the journey than the final destination. If I look back on my career in terms of medals and things like that, you’d instantly say we had a very poor time with Wexford, but we had some great wins and great days out as well.
‘The whole process of going training and being involved with the panel and playing big championship games in Croke Park, or even in Wexford Park, those memories are every bit as good as winning medals.
‘I’m not too worried about the medal haul; the whole journey and the whole process of it has just been really enjoyable,’ he said.
The father-of-two, who lives in Garrylough, Screen, couldn’t possibly have imagined that when he ran on to the field for his Wexford Senior debut against Monaghan in Clones in 2006 that he would still be performing to the highest level for the county side in a third different decade.
He has fond memories of that qualifier as the visitors eked out an 0-8 to 0-6 victory over the Farney men, and although Wexford fell to Fermanagh in another trip north in the following round, he certainly had caught the bug for playing at the highest level.
‘I came into that year after the league so I never really thought I’d see much game time. The morning of the game the manager, Paul Bealin, said “we’re going to start you today”, so it kind of came out of nowhere.
‘I was happy to get the nod and was really excited, particularly when you’re playing with so many lads that you would have looked up to. I remember everything about it to be honest.
‘It was a great day and we got the win as well, which a lot of people wouldn’t have expected, so that made it even more memorable,’ he said.
Wexford were in a far better place in the footballing world than they are at present when an eager Malone burst on to the scene in 2006, having reached a Division 1 league final against Armagh the previous year, and the 33-year-old appreciates the old adage that timing is everything.
‘There was some great players at the time that really put Wexford on the map. I was lucky I came into it at a really good time. We had some great years after that so I was very fortunate to play when I did with such great players.
‘The obvious one is Matty Forde, but at that time there was so many players; Red Barry, David Murphy, Philip Wallace, Colm Morris, those guys would have been role models.
‘Even some of the lads my own age, like Ciarán Lyng, P.J. Banville and Graeme Molloy, playing with those guys was great. I would have rated those guys incredibly highly so I was happy to wear the Wexford jersey with the likes of them,’ he said.
Gaelic football has changed immeasurably since Malone first donned the Wexford colours but, although he admits that styles have altered greatly through the years, he’s not so sure that levels of fitness are necessarily any higher.
‘When I first started playing it felt like we trained so hard and did so much running, whereas the last few years I feel we do less physical training.
‘I’m sure we’re as fit, but so much money has gone into sports science, you’re probably training smarter rather than getting flogged.
‘Football certainly has changed. It goes in roundabouts. When I first started to play it was incredibly open football. In 2008 I actually played as a sweeper for a couple of games and a lot of journalists and so-called football pundits couldn’t get over the fact that we were playing a sweeper. It almost seemed new.
‘Then we saw with Donegal how it went really defensive for a couple of years, and then Dublin changed the emphasis back to attack. Teams are constantly looking for different ways to try to get an advantage or to try to make themselves more successful. I’m sure in five years’ time it will be different again,’ he said.
For a player who turns 34 next month, most would wonder what keeps him motivated enough to keep putting in the hours training in all sorts of weather, but for Wexford captain Malone the answer is simple – a pure love for the game and a determination to leave with no regrets.
‘The obvious one is that I really love playing football and I want to try and exhaust every bit of potential I have. I’ve seen so many players over the years that, for different reasons, had to retire through work or family.
‘I’ve always felt there was more in some players and I don’t want to give up, thinking I could have played another year or I could have still offered another little bit. I just think I’ll be retired long enough.
‘When I’m young enough and able I want to keep on playing. I’m lucky that I’ve a job that helps, my wife and kids enjoy it as well.
‘They like going to the games, so they’re very supportive, so as long as all those things keep working out and I have that support behind me I’ll try to keep going as long as I’m physically able and the hunger is still there, which it is,’ he said.
Like Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’, Malone’s regrets may be too few to mention, but for him and his fellow Wexford warriors at the time, the agonising Leinster final defeat to Dublin in 2011 is something that must still stick in the throat and will forever be looked upon as the one that got away.
They had the Dubs on the ropes that day, and had the bounce of the ball gone their way at the right time, they could have been celebrating an unlikely provincial success.
‘That was a really difficult one to take, looking back on it. We were so close and even now, when you see what Dublin went on to do, the fact that we could have nicked a Leinster final before they got on a big roll. We were so, so close.
‘I think that Wexford team deserved a Leinster medal because we had been knocking on the door and we had been playing really, really good football and were one of the top teams in Leinster at the time. It was a big disappointment not to win it with that team but it just wasn’t to be,’ he said.
Three years earlier Wexford had embarked on an unforgettable journey that took them all the way to the All-Ireland semi-final under the guidance of a fresh-faced Jason Ryan, and Malone looks back on their run that summer as something special.
‘2008 will be a year we’ll always remember fondly. We won the league and we brought that form into the championship. The game I’ll never forget more than any other is the game against Meath in Dr. Cullen Park.
‘We drove on from that. We got to the Leinster final and that was probably one to forget, but we played in a full house against Dublin, something none of us had ever done.
‘People thought we were finished then once Dublin beat us, but we came back, we responded, we beat a fancied Down team and then we beat an incredibly fancied Armagh team and then lost in an All-Ireland semi-final to the eventual winners, Tyrone, so it was a huge year, the best year I’ve ever had,’ he said.
That may have been his crowning glory on the inter-county scene, but on a local level he certainly had two years to rival, if not surpass it, having helped win maiden Senior hurling and football titles for his club Shelmaliers, in 2014 and 2018 respectively, with their victories over St. Anne’s and Kilanerin both coming after replays.
‘I probably haven’t had that much success with Wexford, in terms of medals, so when you can go back to your club and win the county title it’s unbelievable. You’re with all your friends and family members and it’s great what it does for the parish.
‘To win one in hurling and football is very special because a lot of clubs are either predominantly hurling or predominantly football, so whenever I do hang up the boots that’s something I’ll really look back fondly on, the fact that I’ve got a medal in both codes.
‘We certainly worked hard to win both of them. We definitely didn’t get it easy, winning both after replays, so in hindsight that probably made it even more special,’ he said.
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