McBrearty rejects offers from Australia
The Kilcar teenager, who celebrated his 19th birthday with the victory over Kerry on Sunday, revealed he has decided to stay in Ireland after weighing up his options with his family. With his Leaving Cert results out in eight days’ time, McBrearty hopes to pursue a teaching career, with NUI Maynooth high in his CAO list.
“I sat down with my family a couple of weeks ago and when times are good in Donegal you want to be a part of it.
“If I can settle myself here and get a good job and another 10 or 12 years of inter-county football and get a name for myself I’d be over the moon. We sat down together and Australia is off the cards for the duration of the coming years.”
McBrearty admits if Donegal weren’t going so well he would have given more thought to emigrating.
“If Donegal weren’t winning Ulster championships and not going for All-Irelands my mentality might be somewhere else but fortunately things are good.
“The recession is the last thing on my mind. The talk about money, it’s the last thing on my mind. I just want to enjoy my football and win as many medals as I possibly can.”
McBrearty’s decision is a testament to the pulling power of Jim McGuinness, while selector Rory Gallagher has also been instrumental in advising the player on his future. As much as he insists Donegal’s feet are firmly planted on the ground following the defeat of Kerry, he admits they will garner a lot of confidence going into the August 26 semi-final against Cork.
“Definitely, to be the best you must beat the best and Kerry are one of the top teams in Ireland.
“We’re not going to get over-hyped here. We’ve Cork in three weeks’ time. We’re going to evaluate this game and get back into it as soon as possible.”
McBrearty dismissed the suggestion that Donegal had come into the game on the back of triumphing in a poor provincial competition.
“No, it’s definitely not a weak Ulster championship. People were saying who did we beat on the way but it’s the same for every team. Who did every other team beat?
“It’s irrelevant who we beat. We beat whatever was put in front of us; we can’t change the fixtures. The Ulster championship is definitely in a good place in my view.”
McBrearty picked up a nasty head injury after a collision with Anthony Thompson — a gash which required five staple stitches and left him with mild concussion. He returned after a four-minute hiatus and landed one of Donegal’s scores as they turned the screw before Kerry staged a vain comeback. Belief, he says, was the key component on Sunday.
“When there was a point in it with two or three minutes to go a lot of teams would have thrown in the towel thinking, ‘Jees, this is Kerry — they’re going to bring us down’.
“But I was thinking to myself that this team has unbelievable belief in themselves and I don’t think there is anyone who can say we don’t have belief.
“There is no man on this team that doesn’t believe in the game plan. We stuck to our guns and thankfully came out with the right result.”
McBrearty pointed to Karl Lacey’s insurance point at the death as an indicator of that faith in themselves.
“Boys committed forward and they didn’t hold back against a very good Kerry team. Karl took a gamble, Neil Gallagher broke the ball and Karl ran on to it and thankfully the right man got onto it at the right time.”
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