Brennan: Our time to strike

The left peg remains cultured. Pádraig Brennan may be pushing 34 but 15 years’ service to defence forces has helped to keep him in decent nick.

It may be four seasons since he last kicked a ball in anger for Kildare, yet the elder statesman of the Sarsfields team has had plenty to say in making tomorrow his ninth county final appearance.

With 1-10 to his name, he has been more than chipping in, showing the way on occasions to the club’s county players Alan Smith and Gary White. He sees them now and recognises they are in optimum physical condition, nothing like when he and the other svelte-like players Mick O’Dwyer inherited on his return to Kildare 14 years ago.

But the principles needed to succeed and championed by the Waterville man remain the same.

“Young guys are geared towards being physically right. They’re going to the gym off their own backs whereas when I was their age it was a case of doing a bit of extra kicking outside of training sessions.

“That side has changed and the power of the county scene has had a knock-on effect on the clubs. There’s no doubt players are fitter and stronger but the best footballers will always come through and rise to the top.

“I don’t want to sound like an old lad and say it’s massively different, but I have never stepped away from it, really.

“I remember starting with Kildare under Micko and by God did we train hard. There’s more quantity now but it would send a shiver down your spine to think back to what we were doing.

“[Sarsfields manager and O’Dwyer’s former selector] John Crofton was involved in that and he knows what he wants from players and how to get it.

“There’s no magic wand. It needs a lot of discipline and a lot of commitment.”

As captain in the autumn of his senior club career, Brennan is safe in the knowledge that what is following him in the club is promising.

Even if they have lost their last three finals, there is hope Sarsfields’ conveyor belt will continue, the establishment of the Dermot Earley Snr Football Academy in honour of the late Roscommon hero and proud clubman this past summer the latest initiative towards ensuring that.

“It has given a bit of focus to the younger players in the club to help try and build them into strong senior footballers in the years to come,” said Brennan.

“We want to continue to be successful at all levels and we’ve had a good year this year at adult level. If you took me out of the team it would be a much younger side and that’s something to be encouraged about.”

But Brennan insists the time to strike is now.

“We can’t afford to take anything for granted because we haven’t won a championship in seven years. I don’t think we were as competitive as we should have been.

“This year has been different in that we’ve been very focused. We’ve trained hard and when you go into a final knowing you’ve done the work it gives you a sense of confidence.

“We’ve been training since last December so it’s not as if this is some whirlwind achievement for us.

“Johnny [Crofton] has been putting a lot of effort in with us but it’ll be for nothing if you don’t win. We’ve a nice group of young players coming through, we’ve a good underage structure but unless you’re winning then it’s not worth it.

“Athy have been winning all around them at minor level and delivered with a senior title last year. That’s what we have to be doing.”

Sarsfields are without the talismanic Dermot Earley Jnr for tomorrow’s game through injury but Brennan isn’t overly worried by his absence.

“Dermot’s a fantastic player and on any occasion he’d be a loss but in truth we haven’t had him for the majority of this year except for a couple of games between the league and championship.

“So it’s not as if you’re taking him into account. We have had to move on and that’s what we are doing.”

Against a Carbury side that are out to make amends for losing last year’s final, Brennan knows they can’t make the short trip to St Conleth’s Park thinking they are due a win.

“However, the two-point semi-final win over St Laurences has given him encouragement that they can weather what is sure to be a tense encounter.

“We lost a couple of finals in the last three or four years and we simply didn’t do ourselves justice on either day. It’s about rectifying those losses now.”