For men like Gary Brennan, this isn’t even an ask.
It’s not even up for discussion and it sure as hell will never be even considered as some sort of excuse by Gaels cut from this sort of tough, multi-purpose cloth.
You see, Gary Brennan is a footballer and Gary Brennan is a hurler. More than that though, Gary Brennan is a Clare man and Gary Brennan is a Ballyea man.
His club and his county line the core of his sizable frame and they drive his engine – his unrelenting, tireless engine.
I wrote this about Gary Brennan because he reminds me of Anthony Tohill and I couldn't believe he's 27 https://t.co/uvxQpnyLrl #GAA #Clare
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) July 23, 2016
So the first weekend of February demanded a lot of the Banner’s near-legendary midfielder. Never has someone shown such commitment and resolve in such a short space of time.
Hurling
On Saturday, he travelled with his club Ballyea to Thurles in Tipperary to line out at full forward in the All-Ireland senior hurling club championship semi-final.
The Clare and Munster champions came through an epic battle with Galway lynchpins St. Thomas’ and they won in the end by two points on a scoreline of 1-19 to 2-14.
Brennan played the full 60 minutes – Ballyea only made one sub in the entire game and he pushed them on into the All-Ireland decider at Croke Park on St. Patrick’s Day.
It was a quick turnaround though. A ridiculous turnaround.
Football
The hurling club semi-final took place at 5pm on Saturday.
19 hours later, Brennan was not only in Derry, but he was lining out at midfield for Clare footballers.
He played the full game again – 70 minutes this time. Clare drew and earned their first point in Division Two of the National Football League for the first time since 2002.
Carlsberg don't do GAA weekends but if they did they'd have to include Gary Brennan #Ballyea/Clare
— Anthony Daly (@DaloAnto) February 5, 2017
In the space of less than 21 hours, Brennan had played 130 minutes of hurling and football for club and county.
An All-Ireland semi-final, and a league opener no less when most successful club players don’t feature with their counties until after their club season has ended.
130 minutes in two days when Premier League footballers cry about Christmas fixtures. Brennan does it for the craic. He does it for the pride of Ballyea and Clare.
130 minutes action, the guts of 500km of travelling.
From Clare to Tipperary:
From Tipperary to Derry:
Then, presumably, he came back down again.
Not for money, just for the love of it. Just for the love of the GAA. Just because that’s what Gary Brennan does.
