Brenner ‘privileged’ as Croker chance comes at last
His memories of a recent trip there as a spectator are fresher as he watched the Decies make their long overdue appearance in an All-Ireland final.
“I was choking up. I really had to get up out of my seat and go to the back of the stand. I couldn’t take it, it was so emotional,’’ he explained.
His last major game with the county was in the 2005 Munster championship, when they lost to Cork. And, when the counties met again in the All-Ireland quarter-final (and the result was the same), he was sitting on the subs bench while Ian O’Regan played. Likewise, the previous year after playing in the Munster final win over the Rebels he again lost out — with Clinton Hennessy preferred for the All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny.
Against that background, it was easy for him to empathise with Cushendall, understandably heartbroken after an eighth failure at this level, and all the more difficult to accept because of the circumstances of their defeat.
“My heart goes out to Cushendall. I have been there before, losing All-Ireland semi-finals. I know what it’s like. It was an epic game. I only saw it from one half. I don’t know what it was like at the other end between our forwards and their backs but it seemed fantastic. It was ding-dong the whole way.’’
Before the game he could only hope the fairytale would continue, remembering how his father died on the field while he was playing; thinking how wonderful it would be if he and other people strongly associated with the club could be there to see them play.
“In De La Salle we were down for so long I don’t think we dream of things like this,’’ he explained. “We dreamt of winning county finals — and we won. It kicked on from there. We said we’d give it a lash and we won Munster.
“To win Sunday was unbelievable. For so long we had been down. For a small club like De La Salle, there’s probably a big hole in our history where we have older members and then we kind of fizzled out. And then it comes to the likes of Joey Carton’s era. It’s great for that side of the club, great for Waterford hurling in general. The teams that went before us — Ballygunner and Mount Sion — never got to All-Ireland finals.
“They were remarkable teams, but they were unlucky. In our first year we win Munster and we are in the All-Ireland final. You can’t get your head around it. It’s unreal. There is great character in this team. They don’t know how to lose. We are privileged to be representing Waterford.’’
He has no trouble in accepting that they will be underdogs on Patrick’s Day.
“We’ll give it a right lash. We have nothing to lose,’’ he said. “We were under fierce pressure coming up to Dublin this time, with the prices being offered by the bookies. Cushendall were saying it was a licence to print money and we were using that.’’
With his county career over, he finds a real buzz from playing with De La Salle and coaching at youth level.
“You try to give back what you get out of it yourself. That’s the road I am going to go. I’m just happy to be cheering on from the sideline and the stands wherever Waterford go. I’ll be behind them a 100%.
“They have to get back to an All-Ireland final to put things right from last year. I know Davy (Fitzgerald) will have them right. Our win will boost the team and hurling around the county.’’
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