Brennan can be happy with his first year in charge

Expect Ger Brennan to come under pressure if Dessie Farrell stands down as Dublin manager. After a successful stint, this member of the exclusive club comprised of All-Ireland winners as a player and manager, might fancy a break.

All connected with Louth football would hope that if a vacancy arises, Brennan wouldn’t have his head turned. The reasons are obvious. Brennan has done a fine job in his first year in this county.

He has kept his team in the league’s second tier, and guided them through the longest championship run the county’s premier team has ever been on. Eight matches with a stop-off for a Leinster final along the way. Better than anyone could have forecast.

Brennan was under pressure coming in. How would he compare with the man he was replacing? There had been two league campaigns yielding promotion as well as a place in a provincial final. Matching that, never mind improving on it, would be difficult for an inter-county rookie.

Then there was a player crux that arose early on. This could have serious repercussions, we thought, one that might even test Antonio Guterres’ negotiating skills, with Antonio maybe needing to call for advice from one of his predecessors at the UN, Boutras Boutras-Ghali, Kofi A Annan and the like.

No problem to the new man. Heads were banged together and all was fine again. The players in question, spotted side by side in team photos early on, have shone this season.

There’s the other reason why the red-and-white army would want Brennan to stay. While no longer smarting from Mickey Harte’s sudden flitting, they wouldn’t want the county to become something of a halting site, a tower of refuge for one, an apprenticeship school for another.

Brennan had two teams to pick, one to do duty on the field, the other to keep him company at Darver and on the sideline. In coming up with the latter, two of his principals lacked nothing in experience.

James McCartan almost brought off the famous double mentioned above. He was on each of Pete McGrath’s All-Ireland Down teams, and when he took to management, saw his native county just edged out by Cork in the 2010 final.

Diet plays a greater part in players’ preparation than ever. No-one knows better than Dr Niall Moyna what should or shouldn’t be on the plate. Same with drink. The Monaghan native knows a thing or two about football as well. Same goes for the others in the background.

What this team contrived wasn’t revolutionary. They played along with what’s been there this past few years, blanket defending, patient build-up, possession, and shots on goal rarely taken from beyond the 45 metre line.

They’re the ingredients for most teams’ game nowadays, and if it leads to one half of the field at times being populated by just one player, then so be it.

It was good enough to bring Louth more wins than defeats this year. That’s what kept followers happy. As we streamed out of Grattan Park after the Cork game, few complained about the quality of football.

There’d been a win, giving Louth a place in the quarter-finals for the first time. It was a great occasion. But will neutrals’ interest be maintained? Will those whose preference is for the ‘old’ game stay in touch, even when their own team is playing?

The entertainment value of three of the four All-Ireland qualifiers, Louth’s included, got the thumbs down from most observers. The one involving the greatest exponents of the traditional game, Kerry, was included in the criticism. Boring was the word most often used.

The game has evolved over the years, and will continue evolving – the acceptance of some of the Jim Galvin-chaired committee’s recommendations could see a change for, yes, the better.

We can only wonder how better it might have been for Louth had the panel pieced together by Brennan and his team not been shorn of a number of key players.

Ciarán Downey, Peter Lynch and Niall Sharkey, two of them championship winners with their clubs last season, would have been in from the start last Sunday week. And had he been totally free of injury, Ciarán Byrne would also have been there from flag-fall.

Sharkey will come in for consideration if he returns from Australia by the time Brennan begins preparations for next season. The other three should be nailed on. And Tommy Durnin and Bevan Duffy?

While not as old as Christiano Ronaldo or Pepe, both have a fair few miles on the clock. You wouldn’t think it given the way they finished out the championship, with Durnin, a great crowd-pleaser, having his best game in the red jersey against Donegal.

The experience of both would be hugely beneficial if, as is likely, Brennan looks towards the county’s younger set. Pity the Railway Cup is still not part of the calendar, as popular as it once was.

There are several Louth players who’d come into consideration for Leinster’s green jersey. In the provincial competition’s absence a player can’t now win a representative honour. But there’s the All-Stars. One for Sam?