GAA Sean gets to the heart of the matter
NOLAN LAOIS v OFFALY Childhood medical issues steered ace DUBLIN v MEATH
THE last time that Offaly scored a Championship win over Laois, in 2002, their current captain Lee Pearson hadn't been born.
At 21, the Edenderry man is, by a reasonable distance, the youngest skipper in the 2024 Championship and it was an honour that caught him on the hop when boss Declan Kelly (inset) tossed it at him.
“I was a little bit surprised,” he says. “I was surrounded by players that were probably there eight to 10 years plus so it was a huge honour to be trusted by management to take on that role. Something I'm relishing at the minute. I'm really enjoying it.
“I don't think the age is really a problem in the dressing room. We're quite a tight-knit group so I think the lads around me support me and yeah, I'm really enjoying it.”
Meetings between Offaly and Laois have been rare over the past 22 years, with tomorrow's Leinster quarter-final in Portlaoise their first in the province since
2005 but Pearson still says
“they are the records you want to be putting to bed”.
Pearson was one of the standout players from Offaly's All-Ireland Under-20 success in 2021, a win which released a dam burst of emotion in the county after a couple of decades of nonachievement, something which was an eye-opener for him.
“I suppose we were always acutely aware of the passion in Offaly. Offaly people are great for getting behind teams. Yeah, I haven't been around to remember the huge success in the ‘80s, ‘90s, etc so, Jesus, it was quite surreal when we did win it.
“The support was amazing and we're still probably hearing about it today. People still ask you about it. I think maybe it brought a bit of energy to things. I think people maybe saw that Offaly can win things and Offaly can achieve so maybe it kind of got a bit of energy, especially around the senior team now when lads are funnelling into that team.”
Some of the better players from that team have been slow to filter through to senior level, with John Furlong, Cormac Egan and Keith O'Neill having to deal with longterm injuries.
“In fairness, they got a tough one there,” says Pearson. “They had quite long-term injuries. There was periods where they were going months without training, just trying to get fit for games and stuff but I didn't fall into that trap thankfully but they had a more hectic schedule than I had at that stage.
Final
“I think when we won the Under-20 final in 2021, that was on a Sunday, they played the Tuesday, the Thursday, the Saturday. It's crazy stuff, like. So that probably contributed to it.”
Last year, Offaly beat Meath in the Leinster quarter-final and came within inches of a first provincial final in 17 years before running out of steam against Louth in extra time. They imploded after that, however.
“Let's be real about it, we never got going in the Tailteann Cup. I suppose when you reach that high of a Leinster semi-final and you are the kick of a ball — let's be honest we had a couple of opportunities to get the ball over the bar in those last few minutes and the lads who took the shots on were the right men to take the shots on as
well.
“But after that you get your few weeks' break and you have to gear up again for the Tailteann. Maybe we didn't get going and that's something we need to look upon ourselves, particularly if it falls that way again this year.”
SEAN BRENNAN’S sporting career reached a fork in the road in his teenage years, but his sporting lineage meant that he was only ever going to take one path.
The Meath goalkeeper played soccer and was on the books of Bohemians at one stage, but when the opportunity to represent the county came up, that was it.
“I played with Bohemians for a little bit and I played for a team out in Coolock for a team called St Malachy's in the DDSL and really enjoyed my time,” he explains.
“I come from a fairly small club in Meath in Dunderry so coming up to Dublin and straight into Coolock was a good experience. I met some great characters up there and some lads I'd still chat to today.
“I gave that up because I wanted to go with the Meath minors instead and yeah, so I haven't played soccer since.”
Decades
His grandfather, Tony Brennan, was right half-forward on Meath's third All-Ireland-winning team in 1967 and he was the coalface again a couple of decades later when they enjoyed their most successful period, acting as a selector under Sean Boylan as further All-Irelands were won in 1987 and ‘88.
His club, Dunderry, also produced Meath's 1996 All-Ireland-winning captain Tommy Dowd and though Dowd played his last game for the county before Brennan was born, the history isn't lost on him.
“Tommy is a legend around the village. You didn't have to have been born back then to see, you know, the pictures around the clubhouse and the videos.
“He's what every young lad coming out of Dunderry dreams of being, going on to play for Meath.”
Brennan ended up between the posts somewhat by accident as a result of a medical condition uncovered during his childhood.
“I had a heart monitor put in for two years when I was younger because I had an irregular heartbeat so I suppose I wasn't able to be running around too much out the field so I was put in goals and kind of thought, ‘Yeah, I'll do a year or two here and be back out' but just haven't seemed to leave the goals since. That's how it started in Gaelic football terms anyway. “I had the irregular heartbeat since I was a child so they just wanted to monitor it but, no, listen, it didn't affect me much. It probably affected my mother more because she couldn't look at the games knowing. “But, to be honest, looking back,