Brendan Lowry Offaly's sharp shooting forward remembers the glory years Offaly football has enjoyed two glorious spells in recent times. The initial breakthrough was made in 1960 and '61, while in the early '70s the Faithful County came out of the shadows to win the Sam Maguire on two successive occasions (1971 and '72). Then there was the dramatic conclusion to the '82 decider when a late, Seamus Darby goal denied Kerry their coveted five-in-a-row. In each era the county produced a host of top class players and among the most talented was Ferbane's Brendan Lowry. Endowed with skill and strength and an eye for goal, Lowry became a lethal corner forward, the terror of defences everywhere. His performances in 1981 earned him a deserved All Star award and he played at senior level for Offaly for almost fifteen years. Retired now from the inter county scene, the 35 year old has many memories to look back on, some happy, some sad, but despite all the commitment and sacrifices he has had to make, Lowry misses the unique excitement of pulling on the famous green, white and gold jersey. "I gave up playing for Offaly two years ago and it is something I certainly miss. I miss the excitement and the build up to the big games. It is something that gets into your system and it is very hard to get it out, there is nothing like going out to play in a championship game. The only thing I don't miss is the training. I found the training easy enough when I first started out but in the last few years or so it has been hard to keep up with it." Brendan first made his name on the football front with his native Ferbane and playing on the underage teams he showed the type of ability that was to make him into one of the most accomplished forwards around. He was selected for the county minors before going on to win two Leinster finals with the under 21s, only to lose out on both occasions in the All-Ireland semi final stage. Lowry was still eligible for the under 21s when he made his senior debut and it turned out to be an eye opening experience. "I played my first game against Meath in the league in 1979. At minor and under 21 level you think there is not much of a step up to senior grade but there is a big difference and most players take a while to settle into the higher standard of football. You need to be much faster and alert." It was not until the following year, however, that Lowry received his first taste of senior championship fare. "I played in the league in 1981 and I was selected for the first game in the championship. We played Westmeath in Mullingar and I was lucky enough to score 1-2, and Martin Furlong I remember saved a penalty in that game. The football was very intense but it was exciting." Having won the Leinster championship the previous year, Offaly were favourites to retain the title and they did so, defeating Laois 1-18 to 3-8 before disposing of Down in the All-Ireland semi final. Facing Kerry in the decider, few people gave the midlanders much of a chance as the Kingdom had a team packed with household names and they were going for their fourth successive titles. Offaly provided the Munster champions with plenty to think about for long stretches but in the end Kerry ran out winners by seven points. In his first year in championship football the young Ferbane player found it all a new experience. "I still wonder how I got through the final that year. If I was going through it now, I would probably be a nervous wreck. I think the older you get as a player the more nervous you become. But during the '81 final I wasn't nervous at all, I was a little edgy before the start but once the whole thing got underway I was okay. I remember before we played Laois in the Leinster final Martin Furlong came over to me and asked me was I nervous. He said he was ten times more nervous and this was his seventh final. He was saying to me that the older you get the more nervous you become and I found that to be true. I was very young playing 1981 but I wasn't affected that much by the occasion." Youth, however, did not insulate him from the painful disappointment he felt at the final whistle. "We didn't click at all that day. I don't know whether it was nerves or not but they were the better team, they were much better. I didn't score anything myself and I was very disappointed with the outcome. It is very hard to put in a lot of effort for months and months and then lose out in the final. The only thing was that the experience stood to us the following year and since Eugene McGee took over as manager in 1978, Offaly took a step forward every year." With the experience of the '81 defeat behind them, Offaly went into the following year's championship a wiser, battle hardened team. Once again they won their way to the top of the pile in Leinster, defeating Dublin in the final and Galway in the All-Ireland semi, to gain the doubtful distinction of facing Kerry again. All the talk and the media hype before the game dealt with the very real prospect of the Kingdom gaining an unprecedented fifth successive title. "Five in a row" celebrations were planned, even tshirts congratulating the Kerry men on their achievements were briskly leaving the shelves. Hadn't Kerry defeated the Faithful County in the '80 semi final, despite Matt Connor scoring 2-9 and hadn't they beaten them with more than a modicum of comfort in the '81 final? It all pointed to one outcome and as the game drew to a close, Kerry were in the lead and looked to be heading towards certain victory - until Seamus Darby's thunderbolt from the blue gave the Offalymen one of the most dramatic, unexpected victories ever in an All-Ireland final. "Going into that game we really believed we could win, although the odds were stacked against us but if you go into any game believing you haven't got a chance then you are lost from the start but we thought we could win. A few things went against us and even though Martin Furlong saved a penalty we were trailing going into the closing stages and to be honest, I thought the game was over for us but we never game up." Overall, Brendan feels Offaly's performance in '82 was much better than the previous year. "We were a lot better, we played more controlled football and we kept at it even when things were turning against us and I was happier with my own performance, at least I managed to score three points." Brendan helped to make a significant piece of sporting history that day by becoming one of three brothers to win an All-Ireland medal with Sean (a winner in 1972) filling the centre half back position and brother Mark playing at right full back, to make Offaly's victory very much a family occasion. While the All-Ireland medal remains Brendan's most prized possession from the game, he is also the proud owner of an All Star ward from 1981, when he was selected at corner forward, earning a trip to the United States. In the mid '80s Lowry's career was hampered by two serious knee injuries but he fought back to full fitness to regain his place on the Offaly team and help Ferbane to a glorious run of success. "Walsh Island dominated Offaly football in the late '70s and early '80s but in the late '80s everything went right for us and from 1986 to '90 we won five county titles in a row. We had a brilliant team. We were one of the few clubs not affected by emigration, now we have to deal with that problem but during those years we were able to put together a powerful team and we had good management. Kevin Gavin was our manager and Tony McTeigue was our coach and we had good selectors. Everything just worked very well for us." Two years ago Brendan picked up his seventh county medal with Ferbane but the first of the five in a row remains the most memorable. "That was a great victory for us because we made the breakthrough that year at county level and the same year we won the Leinster club title when we beat Portlaoise. It was a great achievement for a small club but Clann na Gael from Roscommon knocked us out in the All-Ireland semi final," recalls Brendan, who won his first senior medal as a sub back in the mid '70s. Like all football aficionados in Offaly the Ferbane clubman was very disappointed to see the county recently relegated to division four. "It is difficult to know what the exact problem is but I don't think there is the same feeling of commitment among the players. In the past county players put in a huge effort and gave up a lot of their time but there doesn't seem to be the same attitude now, maybe we need a few bigger players as well. The team is fairly small, not as big as Derry's or Dublin's for instance." Despite all the gloom Lowry feels a recovery might not be too far away. "It is only a few years ago since Offaly reached the quarter finals of the league and we were narrowly beaten by Donegal and they went on to win the All-Ireland. I think that if Offaly can win a few games they can get their confidence back but we need everybody to pull together." Married to Brigid with three children Sinead, Shane and Alan, Brendan works as a Telecom Eireann employee and also runs a shop in Clara. It all makes for a busy schedule but he plans to continue playing with Ferbane and add another medal or two to his already impressive collection. Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 8th April 1994 Tweet

Most Read Stories