Henry family steeped in the GAA
November 27, 2010Gaelic football. It's in the DNA. He played for Cortown for the best part of twelve years. His brother Packie has served the North Meath club for twice as long and has won provincial and All-Ireland honours with Meath at junior and senior levels. Today, Brendan Henry's son Odhran is a member of the all-conquering Ballivor U12s who captured the 'A' county championship in 2010.
Brendan had a stint as a selector with the Ballivor first team a few years ago and is confident that, due to their superb efforts at juvenile level in recent years, the Maroon & White - 2010 county JFC finalists - have an extremely bright future. Unfortunately, the same positive prognosis does not apply to his native club, who are struggling with numbers and may have to consider an amalgamation to safeguard their future.
Brendan lined out for Cortown between 1988 and 2000, mostly at corner back. He spent his entire playing career in the junior 'A' and junior 'B' ranks. In 1988, Cortown were beaten by Ballinlough in a JFC semi-final; the following year, they lost to Carnaross at the same stage. He was a substitute in 1990 when they locked horns with Simonstown in the junior championship final.
By the time Cortown captured the JFC title in 1993, he had slipped into the junior 'B' team, no longer able to give the kind of commitment needed to be a first team regular. Work commitments were more pressing and Brendan took it upon himself to preserve and build the family business, Henry Transport. Honours-wise, his greatest success was an U21 medal culled in 1988.
Regarding the family business, he notes: "We've been in transport since 1967/68, going back to my grandfather Patrick's time. From there, my father Brendan Snr. took over but he passed away in 1992 and myself and Packie ran the business together for the next six years. I've been running it on my own since 1998."
Business is going extremely well. There were perhaps five lorries in the Henry Transport fleet in the 1990s, but there are now as many as 33. Brendan also operates up to 70 trailers. From its base at Main Street, Ballivor, the company specialises in all kinds of European (and Irish) work - general haulage, computers, healthcare, frozen foods, machinery, hazardous goods, groupage etc., covering every inch of the continent from northern Sweden to southern Spain and from Ireland to eastern Turkey.
Henry Transport is a thoroughly modern operator, providing gainful employment to a team of 37, which is of massive significance to the local economy in the current climate.
Needless to say, Brendan is extremely proud of the achievements of his brother Packie, who played on what was arguably Meath's greatest-ever side and won an All-Ireland SFC medal in 1987. "Packie still plays a bit," he says. "He would have started with Cortown when he was 15 and he's 42 now, so that's 27 years. He won junior and intermediate championships with the club as well as a couple of junior All-Irelands with Meath, two Leinster SFCs, an All-Ireland and a national football league. He was with the Meath seniors from the winter of '86 until after the 1988 Leinster final and I suppose you could claim it was our best team because Meath won back-to-back All-Irelands in that era."
As for Cortown at present, Brendan states: "Unfortunately, they're struggling a bit. Cortown is a small rural townland in a big parish, with Dunderry and the Ultan's closing in, and they have no underage structure of their own. They are part of the St Cuthbert's underage club and that's not ideal for nurturing talent for Cortown. There aren't enough players coming through and they are going to struggle. That's why I think it's possible that there could be an amalgamation down the line, which would probably be for the best. Perhaps it would be in everybody's interest if they stayed with the St Cuthbert's at juvenile and adult level…"
Brendan has been living in Ballivor since 2003 and was a first-team selector there in 2007 and 2008. He was thrilled to see the team progress to this year's JFC decider and feels they are a coming force in Meath football: "They struggled a bit around 2006/07 after Kildalkey affiliated, but they then got the Kildalkey players back last year and became strong JFC contenders. They now have a very good team and - more importantly - an impressive underage structure.
"Ballivor had two U12 teams this year and each of them got to their respective league and championship finals. The 'A' team won their U12 championship and the 'B' team won their league. The club has also won numerous underage championship right up to U17 level. They have one of the best underage structures in the county, with a lot of great people involved, and Ballivor football is clearly on the up. I'm confident they will be a strong senior club within the next six or seven years."
Odhran Henry starred at midfield on the Ballivor U12 side that beat Carnaross in the 2010 Meath U12 'A' championship final and lost the league decider to Na Fianna by one point after extra time. It was a superb young side and those players have tremendous futures in the Maroon & White colours.
As for the Royal County's decision to part with tradition and bring in an outside manager for the first time by appointing a management team fronted by Seamus McEnaney, Brendan says: "I think we needed a change. They were lacking against Louth and Kildare and there was a sense that the players and management had got into a rut. I think the basics are there for a real strong team and hopefully the new management will take them on. Meath are a big, strong, able team and if they are able to solve their problems at full back and centre back then they will go well."
What about the controversial Leinster success in 2010? "The referee made the decision on the day and that has to be respected. It was no good to either team in the end, but that's the way it goes. This year, we should be able to get a few good new players in. They need to go back to the county and pick more players from the rural clubs, like they did in 1987/88. There's more to Meath football than Navan clubs and there are decent players with the junior clubs as well as the senior ones."
Brendan is married to Helen, who is part of the Smyth family from Moynalty. They have three children - Caoimhe, Odhran and Aoishe. As well as playing football, Odhran also hurls underage for Boardsmill and is involved in international Go Kart Racing. Brendan's mother is a Carry from Lloyd, part of a family with strong Drumbaragh connections. Her brother Paddy "The Baker" played for Meath in 1968/69, while Aidan and Christy Carry were also fine footballers. Brendan is also a first cousin of John Henry, who lined out for Cortown for years and collected Leinster and All-Ireland junior honours with the county. Tweet
