The cool Blue ready for Royal test

HE HAS played in two All-Ireland semi-finals, won three Leinster titles and represented Ireland but the last time Alan Brogan had a problem with nerves was when he walked into St Declan’s school in Cabra to sit his Leaving Cert physics exam eight years ago.

The butterflies he leaves to his dad Bernard who gets more uptight these days watching Alan and Bernard Jnr play than he ever did in the 70s when Dublin football first hotwired itself into the capital city’s collective consciousness.

“My mam is worse. Calling down to the house on the morning of matches can be a bit of a drag because my mam is so uptight,” Brogan laughs.

“I know she leaves her seat halfway through matches because she can’t watch.”

Brogan’s own equanimity can be put down to a determination not to let football subsume every facet of his life. He passed on the chance to play minor with the county back in 1999 in order to concentrate on his Leaving and he took a leave of absence during one league campaign for a spell in Australia.

In a city where one or two Championship victories can see hype and hyperbole spread like the plague, that ability to take things in his stride is an invaluable asset.

“You have to find a balance. If you spent all your time thinking about football, you wouldn’t have a life at all. You have to find a balance with work, training, your home work and socialising.

“It’s important to meet friends as well. Otherwise you would be locked into your own little world. That doesn’t do anyone any good.”

He finds it difficult to absorb the fact that half a decade has passed since he first broke onto Tommy Lyons’ Dublin team and he still rates the first provincial medal won that year as a career high point.

That says a lot about Dublin. Only Mayo have knocked on the door harder and more often without being granted winter rights to the Sam Maguire. More than the Connacht men even, near misses have been endemic for the Dubs.

The evidence against them in recent years is damning. They took eventual champions Tyrone to a replay in a 2005 quarter-final and contrived to lose last year’s semi-final against Mayo.

Critics have pointed to a lack of leadership, an inability to grab a game by the neck when it is in the balance, and they may need to discover the knack against a reinvigorated Meath side on Sunday.

The demographic of the Dublin team has shifted considerably since Brogan’s rookie season and, now that he has hit his mid-20s, he realises it is men like him who will have to drag Dublin over the finishing line.

“I’m playing five or six years, and with that comes extra responsibility. You’ve got to take that on your shoulders. When I started there was fellas there like Ciaran Whelan, Coman Goggins, Paul Curran and DessieFarrell who shouldered that responsibility.

“As I get older and play more Championship games, the onus is on me too to do the same for the younger players as they did for me. There’s other lads my age in the same boat, guys like Bryan Cullen, Conal Keaney and Paul Griffin who won an All-Ireland U-21 medal a few years ago. That’s something we’re all comfortable with.”

The signs are promising. Brogan’s developing maturity was apparent two years ago when his refusal to speakto RTÉ at the height of the ClubEnergise spat with the GPAprompted the two parties to sit down and talk.

On the field, his All-Star last season said it all. After a quiet opening two games, Brogan scored four points in the next three but Conal Keaney still edged him out in the race to finish as Dublin’s most prolific marksman from open play.

He knows himself that there is room for improvement. “When we played Kerry in 2004 I had five or six wides. I want to cut out those off days. When that happens, I put pressure on the team by missing five or six shots. When the team is under pressure and needs scores, I want to be one of the men that delivers them.”

He is just as frank when talking about the need for Dublin to improve on a collective level, whether by putting an extra 1% in training or having another 1% desire on the days that matter.

Until he crosses the white line though, his default setting won’t change. He is no slave to superstition or routine on matchday. He might call to the folks in Cabra if mum and dad aren’t too jittery, he might take a stroll, but he won’t be visiting any bathrooms to empty his stomach.

“I’m pretty relaxed. I chat away and do the warm-up in Parnell Park. It’s all part and parcel of the occasion. I enjoy the bus trip to Croker. You see fans outside Gaffneys and other pubs in Fairview. It’s pretty special to see them clapping the bus going past. You see what it means and that can only help you focus for the game.”

Oh, and the physics test? He passed.