Gary Brennan can mix it any way you want to.
He’ll fetch with the best of them. He’ll collide with the biggest. He’ll run with the tireless.
The man is a steam train on ground and a throwback in the air, one of those immovable objects that makes it too awkward for anyone to even reach up behind him to get a sniff of the ball.
They compare him to Anthony Tohill every time the rest of the country is lucky enough to watch him on the television but Brennan is becoming a legend in his own right and one of the Banner county’s own.
Gary Brennan: A true legend https://t.co/fqDvO4W10R #GAA #Clare
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 23, 2016
And, despite all the changes to the modern day game, despite coaching that places emphasis on percentages and not leaving anything to chance – like maybe a contested high ball in the middle – Gary Brennan continues to be the driving force of Clare through it all.
So they don’t go long with their kickouts anymore but Brennan can live with it.
“It’s grand when you’re winning it out there but we’ve a real focus on retaining possession,” he told The GAA Hour.
“It might not come out to the middle third as much as I might like but, if we’re keeping the ball and getting it up the field, I’m happy with that.
“That’s not me saying I’d love to have the ball banged out to me all the time but the traditionalist in me remembers the days of it being banged out to the middle of the field and the midfielders getting involved in the game straight away.”
What it does mean is evolution though.
The midfield position changed overnight. Positional sense became more necessary, playmaking a desirable, and timing essential. To get on the ball now, the middle two has to be a lot smarter and a lot more restless.
“I think the pressure now for a midfielder is to find ways of getting involved when the ball isn’t being directly banged out in the air. That was always the way when I was growing up, you knew you were going to be involved as a midfielder because, for half the game, the ball was being kicked out to you.
“Now it’s just about finding ways of how you link up with your half backs and how you link up with your forwards a bit more.
“I’m still figuring out really, if I’m honest. It’s just a different game.
“Management are just looking for the highest possible percentage and teams, naturally, if we’re strong or playing well at midfield, they’re going to try and stop us and just break it down out there.
“The question of how you get into it, you probably have to make a lot more runs. If I compare the running I do in a game now compared to what I did four or five years ago, I have to do a lot more work to get on the same amount of possession.”
Listen to the full interview below from 28:50.
