It has been a busy stint for Stephen Brennan, who graduated with a medical degree from NUIG last month.

An All Ireland minor winner with Mayo in 2013, Brennan combined his studies with sport becoming a key performer in NUIG’s recent Sigerson Cup campaigns under the shrewd guidance of Maurice Sheridan.

The Covid 19 pandemic has impacted everywhere in the world, but Brennan will start work in Dublin’s St Vincent’s Hospital next week.

Dealing and adapting with different circumstances is something Brennan has managed to accomplish, especially since March. “It was strange, our exams were brought forward by a month and a half,” Claremorris clubman Brennan admits.

“We were given about three or four days notice so that was quite difficult to process at first, but it has proven to be a correct decision.

“Our own temporary stress and anxiety was only a small, tiny drop in the ocean compared to the country and the worldwide suffering that the virus is currently causing.

“It gave us the opportunity to start work, to help out in whatever little way we could as all the frontline staff are doing a great job at the moment. Hopefully we can add to that when we start in the next week.

“We were doing our online induction and filling out our paperwork for the last couple of weeks. We officially start on Monday, we will have off site training. We are officially on site the following Monday, I'm starting in St Vincent's Hospital for the next year.”

Moving to the capital to play a part in trying to assist the nation is a challenge Brennan is willing to embrace, explaining how he ended up being stationed at St Vincent’s.

“It is similar to the CAO process for us,” Brennan replies. “When we finish we sort of list all of the jobs in the country 1 to 50. We pick our top 50 and list them. They match us with a job based on our overall grades and class rank.

“We do have a little say in what sort of jobs we end up doing or where we go, but this year they aren't normal jobs. Services aren't happening the way they used to happen, so we aren't sure exactly what we will be doing when we do start working.

“We are all just looking forward to helping out and doing stuff which is meaningful. We all feel a massive duty of care to the most vulnerable in our society. After six years of training we are just eager to help out, to play our part.”

Owen Gallagher is another NUIG Sigerson Cup footballer who graduated with Brennan acknowledging that Gaelic Football offered welcome respite from their studies.

“Owen and I played Sigerson all throughout our time here,” Brennan states. “We felt that football has played a huge role in our lives, it provided us with an outlet to get away from the medical library.

“It also provided us with a supportive community, who always were understanding of our studies and college commitments.

“Some of our best times in college were the big Sigerson days we took part in. One of our biggest regrets is probably when we lost the Sigerson final in 2018 to UCD by a point in the end. It was a sore loss at the time, something we still probably haven't gotten over.”

The manner in which Sheridan, former Roscommon forward Don Connellan, and Paddy Moran improved NUIG’s fortunes is a source of pride for Brennan reflecting on the Dangan days.

“Maurice was great,” Brennan remarks. “Maurice, Don Connellan, and Paddy Moran have been involved for the last three or four years. Something Maurice tried to instil in the team very early on was a strong team spirit where you'd be friends first.

“We'd get together for different events and the football would come along with that. So we all built a very strong bond with each other, it definitely fed into how we would play football then on the pitch.

“When we started off we weren't even in Division One. We weren't really a big footballing college, we had a lot of history, but in recent years we hadn't kicked on and weren't getting to the Sigerson weekends and competing.

“So as the years went on as Maurice took over we started getting more competitive. In the last couple of years we have been there or thereabouts every year. If Maurice and the lads stay on, keep going, they will be there or thereabouts again next year.

“Maurice played a vital role in getting all of us to really buy in. He constructed a real good team environment. If we had other commitments, we weren't flogged when we would come to Sigerson training, he would always be very understanding about our college commitments.

“That was especially helpful because at certain times of the years we'd be very busy studying for exams. It was a win-win for us and the management.”

Growing up in Claremorris, Brennan was sufficiently talented to become an integral part of a hugely regarded Mayo underage group, who claimed All Ireland minor glory seven years ago.

“I was involved in the 2013 team, I was minor again in 2014,” Brennan recalls. “I wasn't involved in the All Ireland Under 21 team, I played the year after. It was a very strong underage team, a lot of those lads have come through now.

“They are playing a big role for Mayo. Stephen Coen, Diarmuid O'Connor, Conor Loftus, James Carr, a lot of those lads are really standing up, playing a huge role for the Mayo senior team. We went many years without having much underage success in Mayo.

“That crop of players really took it on to another level and it was nice to win a bit of silverware. Hopefully it will stand them in good stead in the coming years and hopefully they will be competing at senior level again. We will hopefully be able to bring home Sam Maguire at some stage.”

Claremorris’ development augurs well for the future and Brennan is delighted to remain an influential member of the senior panel in the club.

“I'm playing for Claremorris over the past number of years and they have also been very supportive with my college commitments,” Brennan comments.

“We have a very young team, we were very good at underage. We won Under 16 A, I played in a minor final, and won an Under 21 A with Claremorris.

“So Claremorris have been very strong at underage, but we have struggled at senior over the past 10 or 15 years. Recently now we have started to compete at senior level.

“Two years ago we got to a county semi-final, a year ago we got to a county quarter-final. So we have started to knock on the door a little bit which is hopefully a product of our good underage system.”

Uncertainty surrounds the 2020 campaign, but Brennan is adamant that Claremorris can remain as serious contenders in Mayo.

“It is a team where we can hopefully kick on even though this year is all up in the air and we don't know if there will be any football at all,” Brennan adds. "A lot of the younger lads will want to compete at senior level in Mayo. It is very competitive in Mayo with big teams like Ballintubber, Castlebar, and Breaffy.

“They are at a very high standard so it is tough when you are going out playing against them. Hopefully we have built up a bit of experience so we can try to compete, to reach another county senior final, and hopefully kick on. It would be nice to translate some of the success we had at underage to senior club level.”

On and off the field, Brennan is making a mark.