By Paddy Heaney
First Published April 14, 2009
On the day he won the election to become the next president of the GAA, Nickey Brennan cried.
It was the 16th of April, 2005. Shortly after beating Christy Cooney by just 17 votes (171 to 154), Brennan was brought into an anteroom to speak to reporters.
Still emotional from the news that he would be the 35th president, the tears rolled down his cheeks when he talked about the honour that had been bestowed on him.
He talked about his family, his mother, and the village of Conahy that was so small it “doesn’t even have a pub”.
It was an extraordinary sight. Here was a man who had played hurling for Kilkenny. He has five All-Ireland senior medals, two as a player from 1979 and 1982, and three as a sub.
Those medals would be regarded as the ultimate reward for any gael. For a former county hurler such as Brennan, the rise to the presidency could be seen as an extension to his career.
But this was clearly not how Nickey Brennan viewed the vote by Congress. It was evidently the crowning achievement of his life in the GAA.
Nickey Brennan would regard the post as the ultimate honour because he is totally and utterly wedded to every aspect of Gaelic Games.
The unbridled joy that the teetotaller derives from watching hurling and football is untypical for both officials and ex-players.
The fact that he once managed the Kilkenny senior football team always provided a strong signal that Brennan was in love with the games and not with himself.
Indeed, the full extent of his fascination with both hurling and football became obvious to me when I was in his company during last year’s International Rules series.
During a conversation about the club games that were going on in Ireland, Brennan was able to give a detailed account of the final between Ballyhale Shamrocks and James Stephens that had taken place in Kilkenny the previous day.
Curious as to how he was able to have such extensive knowledge, I enquired how he acquired this information.
Nickey replied that he got up at 4.30am, turned on his computer and listened to the game on the internet. To Nickey, there was nothing extraordinary about this behaviour.
Another anecdote is typical of the man. In February of this year, Brennan was a guest at this year’s All-Ireland Scór finals in Athlone. The All-Ireland club semi-final between Crossmaglen and Dromcollogher-Broadford was held on the same day.
This presented a small dilemma for the 55-year-old. Brennan’s personal radio and a pair of earphones solved the problem.
As the singers sang, and the dancers danced, Nickey sat with his earphones on, listening to the action from Pearse Park in Longford.
Not everyone was impressed, but Nickey was quite oblivious to the tut-tutting of the Scór aficionados. Midway through the second half, he turned round to the Armagh contingent behind him to announce that: “Cross are giving Drom-Broadford an awful scalping.”
That’s Nickey. The Kilkenny man has no truck with phoniness or pretension. Those who describe him as a hurler may as well be describing the man.
He was all about passion and effort. Not particularly polished, he lacked the style and elegance of silkier team-mates, but he got the job done.
Following this Saturday’s Congress in Cork, Brennan will return to the village of Conahy and reacquaint himself with his wife, Mairead, and their four children.
Unlike more recent presidents, Nickey doesn’t have a big hook upon which his legacy will hang. Sean Kelly had Rule 42. Sean McCague had Rule 21 and Peter Quinn had Croke Park.
But don't think for a second that Brennan didn’t affect change. He did. It’s just that his achievements weren’t of the same interest to the media.
As the communications and IT purchasing manager at Glan Bia, his business acumen served the Association well.
The recent re-branding exercise, the switch to a multi-sponsorship model for the Championship and the new lucrative TV rights deal were all conducted during his watch.
His greatest accomplishment, however, is the way he has re-staffed Croke Park.
Peter Quinn wanted to do it, other presidents should have done it – Nickey Brennan did it.
When Liam Mulvihill stepped down, Brennan seized the opportunity to restructure the way Croke Park conducts its business. He facilitated the appointment of a host of new posts including those of HR manager, director of finance and head of communications.
Those who didn’t retire were given new contracts with specific targets – this included the new director-general Páraic Duffy. There are no more jobs for life in Croke Park and everyone is accountable.
Under the new arrangement, the head of each department and the four provincial secretaries meet every fortnight to discuss GAA policy and any new proposals. It is already proving to be a much more focused and effective mechanism way of managing the GAA’s affairs.
Although the restructuring work at Headquarters took up a huge amount of his first two years, Brennan still got out to the clubs. He clocked over 160,000 miles in the complimentary Toyota Avensis that came with the job. He was also a frequent visitor and a strong ally of Ulster.
This was something of a surprise because his approval of opening Croke Park meant that he only received a smattering of votes from the six counties.
Yet, Brennan didn’t hold a grudge.
Antrim are a prime example. They voted en bloc for Christy Cooney, yet Brennan has worked tirelessly for the Saffron county.
He lobbied and helped to secure the £2m grant for their Centre of Excellence. More recently, he got a further £160,000 grant to assist the coaching and development of hurling in the county.
He was also influential in getting Antrim into the Leinster Championship.
Antrim chairman John McSparran neatly captured the outgoing president when he said: “He is totally upright and honest. If he says he’ll do something, then you can be guaranteed he will do it.”
Of course, it must be acknowledged that Brennan’s position on many issues has been in direct opposition with the prevailing sentiment in Ulster.
Apart from being in favour of opening Croke Park, he helped to broker the deal for the grants scheme and he is in favour of the new experimental rules. It’s all fairly heretical stuff.
But Brennan is fit for his northern critics. He was a guest speaker at the recent Ó Fiaich 125 Conference that was held in Armagh. Many of Ulster GAA’s big wigs and big hitters were in attendance.
Brennan could have played it safe. He could have talked about the strength of the GAA in Ulster. He could have indulged them.
That’s not Nickey. Instead, he rolled up the sleeves, grabbed the hurl and started pulling.
He talked about the grants, the experimental rules and why the men who met in the Hayes Hotel in 1884 would approve of the Heineken Cup semi-final being played in Croke Park.
It’s definitely not how a politician would have handled the situation. But then Nickey Brennan is not that kind of animal.
He’s the kind of man who gets up in the middle of the night to listen to the county final. He’s the kind of man who defends his opinions and keeps his word. He’s the kind of man that Congress knew would make a damned fine president.
It was the 16th of April, 2005. Shortly after beating Christy Cooney by just 17 votes (171 to 154), Brennan was brought into an anteroom to speak to reporters.
Still emotional from the news that he would be the 35th president, the tears rolled down his cheeks when he talked about the honour that had been bestowed on him.
He talked about his family, his mother, and the village of Conahy that was so small it “doesn’t even have a pub”.
It was an extraordinary sight. Here was a man who had played hurling for Kilkenny. He has five All-Ireland senior medals, two as a player from 1979 and 1982, and three as a sub.
Those medals would be regarded as the ultimate reward for any gael. For a former county hurler such as Brennan, the rise to the presidency could be seen as an extension to his career.
But this was clearly not how Nickey Brennan viewed the vote by Congress. It was evidently the crowning achievement of his life in the GAA.
Nickey Brennan would regard the post as the ultimate honour because he is totally and utterly wedded to every aspect of Gaelic Games.
The unbridled joy that the teetotaller derives from watching hurling and football is untypical for both officials and ex-players.
The fact that he once managed the Kilkenny senior football team always provided a strong signal that Brennan was in love with the games and not with himself.
Indeed, the full extent of his fascination with both hurling and football became obvious to me when I was in his company during last year’s International Rules series.
During a conversation about the club games that were going on in Ireland, Brennan was able to give a detailed account of the final between Ballyhale Shamrocks and James Stephens that had taken place in Kilkenny the previous day.
Curious as to how he was able to have such extensive knowledge, I enquired how he acquired this information.
Nickey replied that he got up at 4.30am, turned on his computer and listened to the game on the internet. To Nickey, there was nothing extraordinary about this behaviour.
Another anecdote is typical of the man. In February of this year, Brennan was a guest at this year’s All-Ireland Scór finals in Athlone. The All-Ireland club semi-final between Crossmaglen and Dromcollogher-Broadford was held on the same day.
This presented a small dilemma for the 55-year-old. Brennan’s personal radio and a pair of earphones solved the problem.
As the singers sang, and the dancers danced, Nickey sat with his earphones on, listening to the action from Pearse Park in Longford.
Not everyone was impressed, but Nickey was quite oblivious to the tut-tutting of the Scór aficionados. Midway through the second half, he turned round to the Armagh contingent behind him to announce that: “Cross are giving Drom-Broadford an awful scalping.”
That’s Nickey. The Kilkenny man has no truck with phoniness or pretension. Those who describe him as a hurler may as well be describing the man.
He was all about passion and effort. Not particularly polished, he lacked the style and elegance of silkier team-mates, but he got the job done.
Following this Saturday’s Congress in Cork, Brennan will return to the village of Conahy and reacquaint himself with his wife, Mairead, and their four children.
Unlike more recent presidents, Nickey doesn’t have a big hook upon which his legacy will hang. Sean Kelly had Rule 42. Sean McCague had Rule 21 and Peter Quinn had Croke Park.
But don't think for a second that Brennan didn’t affect change. He did. It’s just that his achievements weren’t of the same interest to the media.
As the communications and IT purchasing manager at Glan Bia, his business acumen served the Association well.
The recent re-branding exercise, the switch to a multi-sponsorship model for the Championship and the new lucrative TV rights deal were all conducted during his watch.
His greatest accomplishment, however, is the way he has re-staffed Croke Park.
Peter Quinn wanted to do it, other presidents should have done it – Nickey Brennan did it.
When Liam Mulvihill stepped down, Brennan seized the opportunity to restructure the way Croke Park conducts its business. He facilitated the appointment of a host of new posts including those of HR manager, director of finance and head of communications.
Those who didn’t retire were given new contracts with specific targets – this included the new director-general Páraic Duffy. There are no more jobs for life in Croke Park and everyone is accountable.
Under the new arrangement, the head of each department and the four provincial secretaries meet every fortnight to discuss GAA policy and any new proposals. It is already proving to be a much more focused and effective mechanism way of managing the GAA’s affairs.
Although the restructuring work at Headquarters took up a huge amount of his first two years, Brennan still got out to the clubs. He clocked over 160,000 miles in the complimentary Toyota Avensis that came with the job. He was also a frequent visitor and a strong ally of Ulster.
This was something of a surprise because his approval of opening Croke Park meant that he only received a smattering of votes from the six counties.
Yet, Brennan didn’t hold a grudge.
Antrim are a prime example. They voted en bloc for Christy Cooney, yet Brennan has worked tirelessly for the Saffron county.
He lobbied and helped to secure the £2m grant for their Centre of Excellence. More recently, he got a further £160,000 grant to assist the coaching and development of hurling in the county.
He was also influential in getting Antrim into the Leinster Championship.
Antrim chairman John McSparran neatly captured the outgoing president when he said: “He is totally upright and honest. If he says he’ll do something, then you can be guaranteed he will do it.”
Of course, it must be acknowledged that Brennan’s position on many issues has been in direct opposition with the prevailing sentiment in Ulster.
Apart from being in favour of opening Croke Park, he helped to broker the deal for the grants scheme and he is in favour of the new experimental rules. It’s all fairly heretical stuff.
But Brennan is fit for his northern critics. He was a guest speaker at the recent Ó Fiaich 125 Conference that was held in Armagh. Many of Ulster GAA’s big wigs and big hitters were in attendance.
Brennan could have played it safe. He could have talked about the strength of the GAA in Ulster. He could have indulged them.
That’s not Nickey. Instead, he rolled up the sleeves, grabbed the hurl and started pulling.
He talked about the grants, the experimental rules and why the men who met in the Hayes Hotel in 1884 would approve of the Heineken Cup semi-final being played in Croke Park.
It’s definitely not how a politician would have handled the situation. But then Nickey Brennan is not that kind of animal.
He’s the kind of man who gets up in the middle of the night to listen to the county final. He’s the kind of man who defends his opinions and keeps his word. He’s the kind of man that Congress knew would make a damned fine president.
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