Brendan Browne has been there, done that and worn the jersey for Shercock. Here he reflects on 2005 and looks ahead to possibly better days. Brendan Browne has been through the mill with Shercock at adult level over the last 25 years but there's no sign yet of him making his way out to pasture just yet. One of the town club's 'solid' citizens, Brendan is not expected to mark his Silver Jubilee innings with a fast exit stage left although he'll hang around waiting to be pushed. Like many another year he's had in the harness, Brendan's season with Shercock last year was a real rollercoaster ride, full of ups and downs. "It's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong but we definitely didn't produce the goods when it counted most I suppose," the '05 selector opines. Brendan says the spirit in the club was good last year and yet, not for the first time, the club's premier team seemed cripple by the weight of expectations on its Shercock have been knocking on the door of major success for the past three years at least but the door leading to the winners' enclosure stubbornly refuses to open. Beating Crosserlough in the league decider in 2003 was a mighty fillip but wasn't consolidated with defeats to Redhills (2004) and Munterconnacht (2005) hard to swallow. "I was confident at the start of the year that we had the kind of squad that could win the junior championship so the semi-final defeat to Redhills was a tough one. "I thought the right balance between youth and experience was there and the lads definitely put in the effort for Martin (Barry). "Right up to the championship attendances at training averaged out around the 30 mark so commitment wasn't a problem and there was good competition for places." Certainly with such young guns as Michael McEnaney, Sean Magee, Dean McPhillips plus Joseph and Liam O'Reilly in impressive nick, things looked good for Shercock. "We had every bit as good a team as the one that beat Crosserlough in 2003 and the squad was much the same as well so there was continuity there straight away. "But having Brian Hamilton out for almost half the league season and then we had Jodie (Clarke) bust a finger and Ciaran Lennon's knee trouble worked against us." Brendan's experience in '05 didn't make for one of his most enjoyable seasons to date with Shercock although he does admit that it was at least a novel experience. Brendan made his maiden voyage as a senior team selector on board the Good Ship Shercock last year and confesses that it was a "real eye-opener." Not that 2005 was the first opportunity for the long-serving clubman to view things in the close-knit club from a gamekeeper's viewpoint rather than from a poacher's perch. Brendan has been around the scene in Shercock longer than most gaels in the club and further afield can rightly remember but he didn't wear a player's hat in 2005. "It was different," he says of the past year," not playing but being along the sideline and hoping that the other lads can do their stuff," Brendan explains. Twelve months on from his 'learning experience', Brendan agrees that Shercock's premier team needs to become that bit more vibrant and turbo-charged. "We've got ourselves in a bit of a rut and maybe it's time for a bit of re-building to be done to freshen things up in the squad," the 43-year old opines. But Brendan is wont to think in a positive manner and points out that the county-title winning exploits of the club's minor and under 16 footballers of late promises much. "Those fellas who have won county titles at underage level in the last few years look to have a lot of potential and it doesn't look as if they'll lack for self-belief. "The likes of Michael Reilly has come through to be in goals and hopefully another few good young lads will come through to play junior for us in the next couple of years." Certainly a lot of those aforementioned under 16 and minor players come from good football stock in Shercock and a lot will be expected from them from supporters. In the short-term though, the club's premier squad of footballers need to bite the bullet and realise their undoubted and true potential come the arrival of the new season. But one wonders will the club still be able to depend on seasoned campaigners like Jodie Clarke, Ollie Ward and Paddy McPhillips? "I think they'll hang in there," Brendan says with just a little hint of uncertainty in his voice. "If we can get the older players to give it at least another year, the young fellas will benefit a lot and the squad as a whole will be much better in the coming year. "Hopefully Martin Barry will stay on as manager and if Brian Hamilton can manage to find the time to hang in there too, I'd be optimistic about the team's prospects." Of the teams that Shercock are likely to have to overcome if they are to get their hands on silverware, Brendan believes the best from the west will be tough opponents. "Shannon Gaels are always a tough nut to crack and they've some very experienced players and Eamon Reilly is a fantastic player for them. "There's no easy teams any more at junior level - look at the way Corlough and Munterconnacht have come on - so you couldn't really write any of them off. "A lot of clubs have very good underage structures in place and they've the best of facilities for the players so it's a very level playing field nowadays." But while the facilities and coaching services may be top notch, Brendan feels that players, these days, don't always give Gaelic football top notch commitment. "Football's no longer the be-all-and-end-all for fellas and there's a lot more things that they'd put in front of football," says the veteran of Shercock's 1997 JFC final defeat. "At times you get the impression that football is nearly a hindrance to some of the players and you have to work hard on those kind of fellas to get them to even tog out. "After my first year of selector, I had my eyes opened for me and you're able to see a completely different view of things than when you're a player." And yet, the approachable lorry driver concedes that being a selector in 2005 was a role he enjoyed for the most part despite the ups and downs. "I enjoyed it even though there was a fair bit of running around to do and we didn't achieve the success we had hoped or planned. "It was a whole new experience and a bit of a novelty for me but there was a good buzz in the camp most of the time and a lot of people put a lot of effort into the year." Did he learn anything in particular about being part of a management team that surprised him or would make him think twice about rowing in again in such a role? "No harm to any of the other lads who were along the line last year but I think a five man selection team is too big and leaves too many along the line. "In hindsight, I think it was a mistake to have five calling the shots; maybe a manager and two selectors would be a better way out." Brendan only hung up his boots in 2004 after ongoing back trouble edged him into making a definite decision on how much more he could give the game as a player. He remembers the back really flaring up during a Reserve Championship fixture against Bailieboro and it wasn't long before he decided a tracksuited role was best for him. There are those of a veteran status within Shercock club who would tell you that our man Browne could still do a 'job' for the club's first team, even in championship terms. "Who knows what will happen in 2006; I wouldn't mind maybe doing a bit of training but I don't think it would look good for the team if I was in contention for my place!" Brendan says the height of his playing ambitions in the coming year may comprise a couple of 'run-outs' with the reserves. He's mindful of the growing pressure there is on all the players, backroom staffs and committee personnel to deliver for Shercock, sooner rather than later. Convinced that Shercock "needs to win something significant in the next couple of years", Brendan says that losing last Autumn's ACFL Division Three decider to Munterconnacht could be a watershed result for the town team. "The lads missed the boat the first day in drawing and they didn't really get into the match in the replay. "It'll be very important that the players rebound from that disappointment straight away in the coming season. "If they can recover the sort of form they showed in beating Kildallan in the quarter-final and Kill after that, then 2006 mightn't be a bad year at all but we'll see." Tweet

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