New set of goals for Brosnan
“When Pat took over the Crokes seniors in 2004, he told the players he wanted us to be more like the Nemo players. We thought he meant tactically,” explains the ex-Kerry attacker.
“But Pat was talking about off the field. ‘You’d never see a Nemo fella in Cork on his own, there’s always two or three of them together in town’, Pat pointed out. ‘When they go to the cinema or golfing, they always go with each other. Watch it, there’s always a group of them together.’
“That’s why he started having poker nights or Pro Evolution football nights for us in the build-up to games. He wanted us all to be a tighter group.”
What O’Shea started, torment has solidified over the last few years. Three heart-breaking county final losses paled in comparison to death and devastation of talented teenagers in the club. But Crokes seem to have cornered the market on bouncebackability, something centre-forward Brosnan takes great pride in.
“Even this year, we set our stall out to win the club championship, which in Kerry gets you into the Munster Club. But we were knocked out by Austin Stacks last April and then lost three successive county league games to Rathmore, Ardfert and Gneeveguilla. That was a low, low point of the season but we got together and re-prioritised,” said Brosnan, still only 30.
Crokes haven’t lost a game since.
On Wednesday night, Brosnan was one of a team of local lawyers who took to the stage in front of 2,000 watchers at Killarney’s INEC for a special Celebrity Jigs and Reels charity event. Would the Eoin Brosnan who quit Kerry demoralised and disillusioned two years ago have put himself out there as readily? All available evidence, corroborated by friends and colleagues, indicates that Dr Crokes are reaping the benefits of a footballer now more at ease with himself.
“There are great days as a Kerry footballer, and you enjoy the success and the good friends you make, but there’s another side, which is full-on 100% commitment. Everything else takes a back seat – your friends, family, your social life. Then being self-employed is another thing, you work when you have to, and that can mean 6am or 6pm. It became more difficult and I didn’t have any regrets leaving when I did. I wasn’t enjoying it as much.”
Brosnan took a lot of local flak after Kerry’s 2008 loss to Tyrone, much of it because his club colleague (Pat O’Shea) was the coach. At the end of that season, with a first child on the way, Brosnan walked away from his Kerry career at 28. The man who made his name bagging thunderous goals has set himself a new set.
“Nowadays, I’m not as uptight, I can see that. Inter-county GAA is a pressured environment where you have to perform. The national media glare on you. Walking down the street, every fella’s looking at you, judging you, seeing where you’re going.
“The last couple of years became a bit of a chore. I wasn’t enjoying it, so it was time to step aside. As a forward, there’s an expectation that you’re there to score and if you’re not doing that on a regular basis, you are going to be questioned. Even with the present Kerry team, there are players getting criticism even though people don’t see the amount of other work they’re doing.”
If it was bust with Kerry, it was a boon for Crokes, who were getting one of their marquee names back with a healthy-looking odometer. “When I gave up Kerry, one of the big reasons was how much I loved playing for Dr Crokes. When Eamonn Fitzmaurice stepped back from the Kerry scene after 2006, I believe he was one of the predominant reasons Feale Rangers went on and won a county championship the following season. He took them to another level. And I wanted to give Crokes a couple of good seasons while I still had the physical capacity to do so. The old cliché about beginning and ending with the club is true, but too many ex-inter-county players come back to the club when their body is wrecked.”
For all their elevated status and domestic success in Kerry, it’s startling to consider that Dr Crokes have only been beyond the confines of their county once since winning the All-Ireland club title in 1992. County Board meddling in the process of representing the county may be one factor, but Brosnan concedes that Killarney’s finest have been frustrated onlookers too often for their own liking when the provincial and All-Ireland club series ratcheted up in winter and spring.
“We were looking at teams (from Kerry) playing in the Munster club championship and we felt we were better than them. It dug at us, it was something we didn’t like. That was why, even after the county final win (against Stacks in October), we were as delighted to have qualified again for a cut at Munster. These things are important to keep lads around. You see it at club level now where people are not working and the outlook for them isn’t great. The easy thing for them is to head off to America or Australia. Some of our fellas could have gone, but they made a sacrifice and stayed around, the likes of Mike Maloney, John Payne. They are getting some reward now, but not as much as the club are getting from them staying.”
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