Patrick McBrearty: Teenage Kicks

If you didn’t know any better, you might just worry for Patrick McBrearty. Between playing for his club, lining out for Donegal at U21 and senior level, and studying for his Leaving Certificate in June, the demands on the 18-year-old Kilcar prodigy’s time are, as he puts it himself, ‘torturous’.

Spend a minute in his company and you quickly realise he’s more than capable of juggling his various commitments, for as well as being a precocious sporting talent, McBrearty is blessed with the sort of laid-back, level-headed disposition that makes him seem far more mature than his years.

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness didn’t need to think twice last May when, on the same day he scored 1-3 for the Donegal minors, he threw McBrearty in at the deep end, bringing him on as a sub in the Ulster Championship game against Antrim for his inter-county debut, aged just 17.

“It was unreal,” says McBrearty in an interview with www.gaa.ie. “I remember warming up and when Jim (McGuinness) told me I was coming on thinking, ‘Jesus, is this for real?’ I remember walking on then and Michael Murphy shouting instructions to me and Karl Lacey and all those boys.

“These are the boys I would have looked up to as a child. To be out there playing with them then on a Championship day was unreal and it’s something I will always remember, that day against Antrim.”

Although his was a fleeting appearance, McBrearty was the talk of Ballybofey that day; when he scored 1-3 after starting in the subsequent Ulster Championship game against Cavan, his talents were showcased to the entire country.

Two months after being thrust into the spotlight, McBrearty played his part in Donegal’s first Ulster Championship success in 19 years. It might have been a wild, head-spinning journey for most 17-year-olds to make, but he was able to put it into perspective.

His Kilcar clubmate, Michael Hegarty, had spent 12 years toiling with the inter-county side and had nothing but an Allianz League medal from 2007 to show for his troubles. He understood that it wasn’t always going to be like this.

“Kevin Cassidy and Michael Hegarty and those boys had a good old laugh at me saying, ‘it’s not like this every year.’ There are obviously disappointments that come along with Gaelic football.

“That might be the only Ulster Championship I will ever win for Donegal so that’s the way things go. Hopefully it’s not. Hopefully we can plough on and win a couple of more Ulster Championships by the time I am finished playing football.

“With good days come bad days and hopefully we can have more good days than bad days. We’d be very happy if we finished up with four or five Ulster Championships – any man would.

“But Tyrone have really been setting the bar the last couple of years. A lot of those boys have an endless amount of medals and three All-Irelands. If you ended up with half the amount of medals those boys have it would be something serious.”

Of course, he was always going to have to wake up from the dream at some stage and McGuinness’s natural conservatism as a manager meant that McBrearty played a less prominent part in the All-Ireland series. He was hauled off after just 26 minutes in the epic quarter-final win over Kildare, replaced by Michael Murphy who had been struggling with an injury, and failed to start the semi-final defeat to Dublin.

Still, he counts the Kildare game as the most memorable game he has ever played in. He accepts there has been criticism of McGuinness and the team’s style of play, but his attitude to it is pragmatic.

“I think the criticism was a wee bit unfair to be honest. Gaelic football is about how you perform, it’s about the final score at the end of the game and what the final score is on the scoreboard.

“I think Jim McGuinness did an unbelievable job with us last year. He brought an Ulster title back to the county for the first time in 19 years and he received criticism for it…I think the criticism that was given towards the team was unfair, but you have to take the criticism on the chin and keep going.

“We all have great respect for Jim and what he has done for us as players. Everybody in the squad has the same respect for each other, whether it be the kit man right up to Jim or the captain of the team. Every man is treated the same.

“The work he has done this past year compared to the where Donegal were the past couple of years is unbelievable.”

Last summer will be imprinted on his consciousness forever. For now, though, there are more pressing issues such as sitting his Leaving Certificate at Carrick Vocational School to keep him grounded.

"It's torture sometimes. There are people pulling out of you everywhere. Training's an hour away from where I am in Donegal. We head away at 4.30 and mightn't come back until nine. Then I'd have to study for two hours. Of course it's tough, but there are only a couple of months left."

The AFL scouts are reportedly ready to swoop as soon as he finishes his studies. It’s not the first time professional sport has come calling. Back in 2007, he was given a trial with Glasgow Celtic FC after impressing the late Tommy Burns, then the Celtic Youth Team Development Coach, with his performances for St. Catherine’s FC in Killybegs and various Irish international underage teams.

He spent a week at the club that summer aged just 14, trained with the reserves and was a ballboy for the Champions League third-round Qualifier against Spartak Moscow at Parkhead.

“It was unbelievable to get a trial with them. It was a childhood dream to be honest. I couldn’t really believe it when I got the call to go over to Celtic,” he says.

“I trained with the reserves and Bobo Baldé was there behind me. I didn’t even know he was still playing football, but he was there. Thomas Gravesen was there too.”

He played with the same soccer club in Killybegs as Seamus Coleman, a former Donegal underage Gaelic football star who pursued a professional career in England with Everton.

McBrearty, however, was called into the Donegal minor panel aged 15 and hasn’t looked back since.

“I want to stay in GAA for the majority if my life. It’s something that I was born and bred to do."