Brogan to look part for Obama
While the absence of All-Ireland-winning football captain Graham Canty from the White House guest list on St Patrick’s Day continues to cause disgruntlement in Cork, Brogan will later board a flight with Tipperary’s 2010 victorious captain Eoin Kelly to meet US President Barack Obama at Pennsylvania Avenue’s most famous address on Thursday.
“Yeah, Louis has sorted us out with a nice bit of glad rags for the day,” said Brogan. You have to be looking well if you’re going over to the White House! In fairness to himself and the GPA, they have sorted me out with a suit and a nice pair of shoes so I can’t complain.”
Along with Kelly, Brogan will present his county jersey to President Obama as well as some GAA memorabilia.
However, the St Oliver St Plunkett’s Eoghan Ruadh man believed somebody was pulling his leg when he was first notified about the invitation.
“I got a call from the US Embassy but I thought it was a joke at first. I didn’t say anything about it for a while until a letter from the president and Mrs Obama came into my house the following week. I couldn’t believe it.
“It’s a great honour, to be representing Dublin and Ireland and the GAA and I’m really looking forward to it.
“It’s unbelievable for myself and my family, I’m going to go over and enjoy it and hopefully say a few words to the big man. I don’t know if the president accepts gifts. I don’t know if they destroy them (for security reasons) or what they do with them, but we’ll bring them over as a token and hopefully get a chat with him and maybe get a picture or something with him.”
The Central Competitions Controls Committee’s decision not to accept Dublin’s request to bring forward theirs game against Mayo from Sunday afternoon to Friday night has inadvertently ensured Brogan can play some role in the round five fixture.
However, he doesn’t expect to start. “Yeah, it means I can get back and hopefully play a bit on the Sunday. I’m coming back on the Saturday. I’ll just take it handy over there because we have eight points in the bag. A win next week and it will put us very close to the final so we’re in a good place.”
Having claimed a fourth win in as many games against Monaghan on Sunday, a first league final in 12 years isn’t so much a possibility as a must now for Dublin.
While Pat Gilroy attempted to play it down in Clones, a failure to seal a top-two finish in Division One would be a major blow, something which Brogan isn’t afraid to admit.
“We would be disappointed if we didn’t make it,” he accepted. “It’s a long time since Dublin were there and obviously that’s where we want to be. There is a lot more work to do but the momentum is with us. Teams are going to be there trying to knock us down so nothing is going to be easy. But we’re going out to win every game and it seems to be working for us and we’re confident.”
His older brother Alan should start against Mayo, having impressed against Monaghan, while his younger sibling Paul did well in defence as a sub.
Brogan added: “The lads who came on made a difference. Monaghan were strong but my brother Paul came in and did very well, Dara Nelson clipped over a lovely point and Paddy Andrews kicked a score. So the bench was brilliant.”
However, Dublin’s poor discipline is a cause for concern. Brogan was one of five players yellow-carded by referee Michael Duffy while Diarmuid Connolly was dismissed after two warnings.
“Our discipline is something we’ve been working on. If we give away frees, we’re going to lose games. We’re working on it and obviously everything isn’t going to be perfect every day. I thought we did okay.
“I haven’t seen it back but the sending-off was a bit harsh. Diarmuid was getting himself about the field and he’s moving well, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
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