McBrearty: ‘I’m looking forward to getting back to Croke Park’
Just under a year ago Patrick McBrearty trundled out of MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey on crutches after his Donegal team-mates had squandered a four-point lead against Tyrone to miss out on a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
McBrearty made his senior debut for Donegal back in 2011 as a 17-year-old against Antrim in the Ulster SFC preliminary round, just a couple of hours after lining out for the county’s minors against the same opposition.
Last June, Donegal had defeated Fermanagh to lift the Anglo-Celt Cup for the first time in four years. However, victory was tempered with the fact their corner-forward picked up an ACL injury and would face a length lay-off.
He wasn’t used to watching games and with Donegal on the cusp of a famous victory over their fiercest rivals in their meeting of most magnitude before succumbing to a 2-13 to 1-17 loss, the mood was sombre.
“I was here for the Tyrone game last year and it was the first time I wasn’t fit to tog out for Donegal,” the now 25-year-old said on Sunday following Donegal’s 2-19 to 1-13 victory over Meath back at the same Ballybofey venue.
“I do one day a week maintenance work as I need to keep the muscles in the knee topped up. I’ll be doing that now for the next year or maybe even two years. When you’re given the ‘all clear’ you have to maintain it.”
Sunday was the Kilcar forward’s 100th appearance for Donegal — making him the youngest player ever to reach that milestone.
“Every chance I get to put on the Donegal jersey I will,” McBrearty, who scored 1-6 against Meath, added.
A nine-point winning margin over the side managed by Andy McEntee wasn’t really a fair reflection on a gripping contest in which the visitors were 1-12 to 1-11 in front midway through the second half.
“We’d have taken a one-point win there,” McBrearty added.
We’re happy. It didn’t look good for a spell there when Meath came back from being five points down to go ahead. That’s something we have to look at. Maybe boys slacked off in an attacking aspect. When you have teams on the back foot you have to come out on top of them.
“Certain aspects of our play let them back into it and we showed good character when Meath went ahead. We hadn’t played since the Cavan match and three weeks is a bit of a while without a game. Training is good but you can’t replicate a game.
“It took a while for us to get our second wind. We scored 2-19 and that’s a fair score and you’ll win most games if you can score that. On the other hand, we probably conceded a wee bit too much and let Meath back into it.”
McBrearty paid tribute to his captain Michael Murphy and club-mate Ryan McHugh, who both excelled and showed their worth from defensively and offensively as Donegal rattled off 1-8 to Meath’s 0-1 late on.
“Michael and Ryan’s performances were a positive and you need your top men playing well,” McBrearty added. “And they certainly did.
McBrearty also missed out last year against Dublin at Croke Park in Donegal’s Super 8’s opener and will relish the trip down the Jones’ Road on Sunday when Kerry, who hammered Mayo 1-22 to 0-15 on Sunday, are the next opponents for Declan Bonner’s side.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to Croke Park as I haven’t played there in a while,” McBrearty added. “We have a game under our belt now so we won’t have any excuses when we’re out next weekend against Kerry.”
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