We’ve all had a bad day and we all probably rate a player a little higher than everyone else just because you were roasted one Sunday.
Bernard Brogan was once a relative unknown.
He failed to make the county minor teams, he was playing hurling, and no-one, at that stage, could’ve foreseen that he’d go on to win four All-Stars, a Footballer of the Year award and help lead Dublin to five All-Irelands.
But it took a lot of work for him to get there.
“When lads are out drinking pints at 18, 19, 20, the guys who make it are playing with their clubs and sacrificing” https://t.co/oC9EoxlWzn
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 7, 2016
One man felt the full brunt force of a hungry Bernard Brogan on the rise though.
Over on the SportsJOE Facebook page, we shared the story of the Dublin legend’s long wait to be recognised by his county and it struck a chord with a lot of late developers.
“I went out kicking on my own,” Brogan said of his rejections.
“I really wanted it, I went to the gym more and I went after it and that’s what got me there in the end.”
It was all-too-familiar for Thomas O’Connell though who learned the hard way just how much all of this meant to what would become one of the deadliest forwards the game has ever seen.
But back then, he didn’t have a clue what was happening and quickly found out who this Maynooth fresher was when he was just looking forward to a nice first year college game.
It didn’t pan out that way.
We just hope the manager eventually found out Thomas’ name.
O’Connell had the last laugh though, featuring in a minor C semi-final and, in his own words, “it’ll come good”. What a story.
