David Brady tells it like it is, was, and always will be

DAVID Brady opened up his mind, his heart and indeed his soul to viewers on TG4’s engaging series, Laochra Gael, which traces the lives of some of the great GAA players.

In this programme - David Brady: Against the Tide - you get what it says on the tin. No window dressing, no frills, no cutting corners - and that’s exactly how it panned out as the camera visited Brady in his home environment at the Quay, Ballina.

It followed his footsteps through archival material from television, radio and newspapers, supported by a handful of contributors, including players he soldiered with and against, along with commentators and journalists who reported on his playing days.

Brady, who is now 46 and married to Liza (they have two kids - daughter Hannah and two-year-old Luke), emerged from the ranks of the Ballina Stephenites underage structure to eventually fulfil the ambition of playing senior football with Mayo.

It was not an easy journey at times, a fact which Brady himself accepted he may have contributed to as his personality was a bit like many of his performances on the field, stubborn, robust and uncompromising, but always honest.

He clashed with a few managers and players verbally as well as physically on the field and two-time Mayo manager, John Maughan, loomed large in the background of Brady’s arrival on, and departure from, the Mayo senior football scene.

Brady was among a group of players who suffered from the Croke Park hoodoo but he never allowed it to get under his skin or inside his head.

Mind you, since he and others left the scene, a new cohort has replaced them and they too have been unable to break the hoodoo over Mayo’s failure to win a senior All-Ireland football title since 1951.

You couldn’t but be delighted for Brady when he finally achieved his driving ambition - to win an All-Ireland senior title in Croke Park.

It may not have been the one he had expected, but you could see it in his eyes and feel the emotion in his voice when interviewed after Ballina Stephenites beat Portlaoise to win the Andy Merrigan Cup in 2005, that he had achieved something monumental.

He was a bit harsh on himself when he said after the game: "I have been a loser all my life. These fellows are all young. They don’t know what it is like to lose. Today I am a winner. I can now die happy."

Brady tried hard and always gave 110 per cent. That is not a loser in my book, but he is very much self-deprecating in character despite the super-confident shield which protects him.

"I wasn’t the greatest player that ever played. Far from it. I was not decorated and did not deserve to be, but any time I put on the jersey for Ballina or for Mayo, be it 9 or number 29, I gave myself to it. I gave it everything," he said.

 

RIVER MOY

 

The documentary opened with Brady casting his eye over the River Moy on a dark evening, the street lighting and lights from the houses shimmering on the water as it lapped the shore.

An ideal base if you were inclined to do a bit of salmon poaching, which Brady, as had quite a number of those living in the Quay, engaged in, for survival purposes only of course.

I’m sure there were a good few viewers from the Quay and from Ballina whose minds were cast back into the deep dark waters of the Moy as they recalled those days but sadly the salmon stocks have declined and like the big ships that once used to empty their cargos of starch, flower, coal and timber at the docks in the Quay, they have all disappeared into the horizon never to be seen again.

But this was a story about a boy who attended the Quay National School, loved his football and did well at it - a leader among men who may not have been given all the kudos he deserved.

For him playing in the town leagues was just as important as playing before 80,000 in Croke Park as he recalled playing for the Quay against United in an Under 10 final.

"It was as good as any day in Croke Park. I scored a point in the game which was low-scoring. It finished 0-2 to 0-1, but it was the greatest day of my life playing in front of that crowd, which was as good as playing any day before a crowd in Croke Park."

Brady opened up his heart recalling the trials and tribulations involved in getting to the top in Gaelic football, while it should be remembered he was a rugby player of note, and that led to one of many conflicts he had with John Maughan.

In particular it hurt him when he was dropped for the All-Ireland final of 2004 having come on as an impact substitute in the semi-final replay against Fermanagh.

"It was a gamble to drop me. You don’t gamble with Mayo football.

"We were annihilated. We got the positions all wrong. I know I shouldn’t have been dropped. John (Maughan) knows I shouldn’t have been dropped. But look, you just have to get on with it and that is what we did," he said.

The injuries that threatened his career on so many occasion, his great love for his club, Ballina and his county were all recounted in what was some riveting stuff both on and off the pitch.

He brought a lot of energy and emotion to the interview, which was interspersed with contributions from his peers, including his brother Ger, who also played senior county football for Mayo, Alan Dillon and Sean Og de Paor, while Irish Independent sports journalist Vincent Hogan, along with Sean Ban Breathnach, made some insightful observations about Brady’s influence on the Mayo team during his career, which spanned a good 15 years.

"If Brady had two decent forwards around him he would have won at least two All-Irelands,” Sean Ban said.

Brady was recognised as a leader on the field and off the field, and there were many instances referred to when those leadership qualities came to the fore, no more so than that All-Ireland club final clash with Portlaoise.

His brother Ger tells this story: "We were in the dressing room at half-time, the heads were down. Ronan McGarrity was sitting on a bench. He was in bits as he had taken an awful hit during the game, David pulled him up by the scruff of the jersey and said, ‘Look what they have done to him. Are we going to let them do this to one of our own?’

“It would put hairs up on the back of your neck. There was some choice language; It was a call to arms."

Liam Brady, his brother, scored the winning point that day - it was a call to arms.

The one thing that came through time and time again was his positive attitude to life and what it threw at him.

For young aspiring players - not just in helping their career in football, but in their everyday life - they could do worse than have a look at this documentary.

Brady might at times be very quick to shoot from the lip, but he still comes across with some good advice, his attitude to get back up on the horse no matter how many times you fall - and he did literally get injured when he fell off a horse at one time - was most compelling.

By his own admission Brady was not the greatest footballer in the world but he made his mark in so many ways.

He is not one to hold back if he has something to say.

He accepted he may have said things he regrets, but by in large, any opinions he proffered were what he felt and he had no real regrets on what he did or said during his career.

"They are my opinions and I do have opinions. Some may be off the wall but they are what I’m thinking at the time," he said.

Of course all was not entirely rosy in the garden all the time.

 

SLIGO MOVE?

He had a couple of tangles with John Maughan and you could sense the real hurt in his hushed voice when he spoke about being dropped on more than one occasion, and he even considered moving to Sligo when Peter Ford was manager.

Alan Dillon felt Sligo was never an option.

"They would have lynched him in Ballina if he declared for Sligo", said Dillon.

But he also accepted the manager had a job to do but suggested he may have got that one wrong, a reference to the game against Kerry in 2004.

Whatever you may think of David Brady - and his venture into the media world certainly caused a few controversies - he remains true to his principles and is a very proud Mayo man who is very proud of his Quay heritage.

If he has something to say he will say it. Maybe it might be put more subtly but David is not one for subtlety.

He’s not going to change now, and to be honest, I wouldn’t want him to change.

I enjoyed the programme and recommend you watch it if you haven’t already.