David Breen admits he took gamble with hand injury
Limerick attacker Breen, 30, works as a physio for Leinster rugby and admitted that he went against all good medical advice by playing in the Munster Club hurling final last November.
He came on after 39 minutes in that Munster final win over Ballygunner having only removed a cast on his broken hand days earlier.
He also came back early from a stress fracture in his shin bone to play in the county semi-final, ruling him out of the final.
The former Limerick captain admitted that, if he was a professional player with Leinster, he’d never have been given permission to take such chances with his body.
“I would have had the docs and physios in Leinster keep an eye on things, especially with the stress fracture,” said Breen.
“It’s difficult when you work in that environment, you’re advising players to do one thing and then you’re going out and doing the exact opposite thing yourself. But obviously GAA and professional sport are two different things. You wouldn’t be allowed to do that if you had a contract.
“I got a bit of a doing from the lads in Leinster after the Munster final, when they saw me coming on for the final 20 minutes of the game, considering I’d been wearing a cast earlier on that week!
“But they understand the situation and the head physio there, Gareth Farrell, has been pretty good to me in that sense.
“In fairness I have to be physically able to do my own job too, there is no such thing as ringing in sick or needing five or six weeks off when you’re working in that environment.”
Breen was part of the Limerick side that achieved a Munster championship breakthrough in 2013 but had to opt off the panel this year due to his job.
He broke the news to boss TJ Ryan last autumn though insisted it was not a retirement announcement and that he could be back if things change.
“I travel with the Leinster senior team so we were in Cardiff a few weeks ago and they are basically two-day events,” said Breen.
“Usually, the ones where the games are on a Friday night is a bit easier because the team travels on the Thursday and you get back at maybe 10pm or 11pm on the Friday night.
“So then you still have some of the weekend left and all I do is let Shane O’Neill, our club manager, know my schedule in advance and he tries to put training on around that.
“But there’s some weekends that there’s no getting away from it at all, you have to write off the weekend because of work. That would have been one of the biggest reasons I stepped away from Limerick this year because I have to show a commitment to my job too. Hurling is definitely not going to pay the bills.”
Daniel Davey, who will play for Ballyboden St Enda’s in the AIB All-Ireland club football final, also works with Leinster rugby.
“Daniel is the nutritionist in Leinster,” said Breen. “I was just hoping he would win his semi-final, to be honest, because our final is played before the football and I didn’t want to be going in there, looking forward to Paddy’s Day and being afraid to mention it to Daniel. Lucky enough, they came through.”
Ballyboden midfielder Declan O’Mahony remains suspended for the final, however, after the Central Hearings Committee upheld his straight red card in the semi-final win over Clonmel Commercials.
A Ballyboden spokesman said the club has yet to decider whether to request a Central Appeals Committee hearing.
