Few years can come close to the present one for Ballyea’s Gary Brennan.
Although he lined out for his country twelve months ago in the international rules, 2016 has saw Gary lead his County to glory in Croke Park, he’s received an All-Star nomination for his exploits for the Clare footballers but now it’s all been topped off as he collected his first senior championship medal.
“I can’t put it into words to be honest, it’s surreal just incredible, we always felt we had a chance coming in today and there was a lot of people talking about how much Clonlara we’re going to improve but we felt there was a good bit of improvement in us and thankfully we got that” he told The Clare Herald.
A PE and Irish teacher at St Flannan’s College in Ennis, Mr Brennan and his teammates were determined to show they can score goals and he himself got the first and finished the hour with a tally of 1-02.
Sticking to his character, Gary was quick to pay tribute to the people that helped him to become a County Champion, amongst them his former teacher Eddie Liddy.
“I’m very proud to represent Ballyea, met Eddie Liddy there he was our primary school teacher in Ballyea he started us all off with a hurley, very special to meet him on a day like today”.
They welcome Thurles Sarsfields to Ennis on Sunday but they will continue to enjoy their celebrations for now until they focus on the Tipperary giants.