Brennan happy to add to Clare's Ireland tradition

It might be a good question at a pub quiz: name the Clare men to have played International Rules for Ireland. The chances are, unless you are from somewhere close to the flaggy shore itself, that the names Ódhran O'Dwyer, Martin Daly and Noel Roche won't roll off many tongues.

Should he make an appearance in the November 21 Test against Australia at Croke Park, Gary Brennan will add his name to an impressively rich group of footballers from the Banner County who have been picked for Ireland.

"There is huge interest in football in Clare and I suppose it probably does mean a lot to them," said Brennan of the strong football communities of his native county, predominantly near the west coast of the county. "I just know from the reaction around home, my own family, club mates and work mates, the reaction has been unbelievable this week - it obviously does mean something.

"I'm not thinking about those things too much. It's something I'll maybe reflect on in later years and time to come. For this week I'm anxious to get working and get as much game time as I can."

Noel Roche played for Ireland against Australia in the Tests of 1984, 1986, 1987 and 1990 while Martin Daly was involved in 1998 and Odhran O'Dywer in 2003.

"Noel was highly revered in Clare and he is very well respected. He did a couple of coaching sessions with us in the club going back a few years," said Brennan of the Clare man with by far the greatest Ireland record.

"He is a great man to listen to. He's had a very good influence on his own club in Kilkee and to be mentioned in the same breath as him is somewhat surreal. It's certainly a nice feeling this week."

Brennan was one of 23 players named by Joe Kernan in his final squad last week and is one of just five regular inter-county midfielders selected in the squad, alongside Mattie Donnelly (Tyrone), Darren Hughes (Monaghan), John O'Loughlin (Laois) and Aidan O'Shea (Mayo).

He is one of the few players from teams in Division III or IV to be selected, along with Michael Quinn (Longford), Ciarán McDonald (Tipperary), Eoin Doyle and Paul Cribbin (both Kildare), but he doesn't see his selection as an opportunity to prove the worth of lower tier counties alongside luminaries from the likes of Dublin, Mayo and Kerry.

"I don't feel like am on any sort of a crusade or anything like that," he said. "I suppose all of us that are there, it's special for all of us and we all want to try and show what we are capable of. I don't get a chance to put on an Ireland jersey too often, so when you do you wnat to play to the best of your ability and try and make the most if it."

Brennan has harboured hopes of getting on the final International Rules panel for a number of years and he came close to final selection during Anthony Tohill's management of the team in 2010. He was initially unavailable when Kernan called him in this year, as both his hurling club Ballyea and his football club Clondegad were still involved in the championship. However, after two club exits in quick succession, Brennan was available to press on with Ireland.

Brennan has International Rules experience from his underage days. Back in 2006, he was selected on the Ireland U17 squad that toured Australia alongside future Ireland and Donegal captain Michael Murphy, Cork star Colm O'Neill and future AFL recruit Pearce Hanley.

"As a 17-year old, my Leaving Cert year, it was unbelievable," he said, reflecting on that experience. "There was a couple of players from Clare had done it in previous years and it gave me a huge amount of belief, a huge amount of confidence, coming from that.

"We had a very unique situation, we actually drew the first two tests and then got beaten in the third one unfortunately. To actually draw two tests, they were so competitive, the games, and getting to play with players of such high quality and then following the progress of those guys, I suppose in years gone by."

Brennan never had any approaches from Australian scouts and nearly a decade later the Irish teacher finds himself finally on an Ireland senior squad as the pre-eminent Clare footballer of his generation. Brennan's performances at midfield for Clare over the last few seasons have marked him out as one of the top footballers in Ireland, and looking back to his home county, he still hopes to one day win a Munster title and repeat the feat of the famous class of 1992.

"Well, listen, if I didn't think it was achievable, would I be mad to be training and playing with Clare for the last nine years?" said Brennan. "You think it's achievable every year, and you'll always try and go for it every year. Obviously, the scale of the task is different when you're up against Kerry and Cork, but I'll always believe in my own county and I'll always believe I what we have. It'll take an awful lot for that to change."

Podge Collins

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As Brennan knows well, given his status as a senior club hurler with Ballyea, home club of Tony Kelly, Clare is a true dual county with hurling probably the more popular of the two sports, especially given that Clare won the All-Ireland as recently as 2013. The insistence of hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald that players must commit to one team or the other has led to a few high profile departures from his hurling squad - most notably Podge Collins - but Brennan believes it is possible to play both codes.

"The dual debate...listen, we're in a particular situation with Podge's father (Colm Collins, father of Podge and Seán, is Clare senior football manager) being involved. Podge, I suppose, is the character in question with the dual debate and if anyone can do it, I think he can do it," said Brennan.

"I've never seen someone with as much energy and as much enthusiasm for games as Podge. So if anyone is capable of doing it, I think it's him. I think the first thing you need in any player is that they're happy. So if Podge is happy in playing the two, then you'll get the best out of him, I think, in the both. And it's up to the manager of the team - it's up to a manager to run the team the way they want. Far be it from me to talk about how the Clare hurling team is run."

For now, all that - Clare's dual code politics, their dreams of breaking through in Munster - is on hold. Brennan's immediate ambition is international.

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Ireland v Australia, International Rules Test, Croke Park, Saturday, November 21, 7pm