DAMIAN LAWLOR'S BLOG

 

ALL THE WAY, TONY BROWNE

NEXT May, if the Man Above spares me, I’ll hit the big 40. And if I’m being entirely honest, it’s not exactly something I’m looking forward to.

I remember when I was young; reporting on the Tipperary Masters team on a winter’s Sunday, and thinking that these guys were positively lucky not to be in a nursing home, never mind on a hurling field.

Now, though, I’m just a year shy of that mark myself and wondering what the hell has happened in the past 20 years. And, of course, the Masters competition has been scrapped by the GAA –so the only positive of turning 40 has been taken away from me.

When you get to this stage, you reflect on what you have done to-date and in my case, career-wise at least, I’m not yet where I want to be. That brings its own concerns. But I’m probably no different to thousands of others in that regard.

Then you look around to see who else is in and around the 40-mark and you can’t help but compare and contrast. Lads you went to school with, for instance, have they a rounder belly than you or a receding hairline? Did they make it big, or crash and burn? How do you stand with these guys?

In my job, you also get to see sporting figures you grew up with move through the channels, from rookies to veterans to coaches. Tony Browne and Brendan Cummins are about the only ones of my ‘vintage’ still left about the place. I’ll give my thoughts on Cummins at another time, but Browne turns 40 today and apart from Anthony Rainbow, who still looks like a boyband member, I’ve never met anyone like Tony.

Last year, we were doing some filming for a GAA show when Rainbow rung looking for directions. I told the make-up girls to tell me what age he was. They reckoned 29. I had to tell them to go again - by 10 years.

Browne is of a similar breed. The Peter Pan of hurling. I was lucky enough to be on countless All Star tours with him over the years and I saw at firsthand how he looked after himself. A quiet corner and the bit of a chat. A few beers to be sipped on during the week, but only a few. The odd steak but no fat. A bit of fishing in his spare time and a word for everyone.

You meet him and he’s so laid back but behind that carefree nature is a hungry tiger, a born winner. For the past few years he’s taken it easy during the league, worked hard on prehab, stretching, diet and core conditioning. He’s usually trained on his own from January to March and in the past worked on fitness programmes drawn up by the likes of Gerard Hartmann.

He carries the secrets of Waterford's successes and failures over the past 21 years and thus his experience will be essential on the line some day in their ongoing quest for the Liam McCarthy Cup.

But he’s not finished playing just yet. Last weekend, he came on to massive applause against Westmeath in Mullingar. He would have been mortified by the reception he got and even more so if anyone thought he couldn’t do a job on the pitch.

I’ve interviewed him several times over his career and he’s always maintained he’d be out the gate if he felt he couldn’t contribute.

“I don't pick and choose with Waterford hurling,” he told me. “I work harder than anyone. Sure I have to. I can still train as hard as any of the lads; the only difference is the next day they'll be ready to go again and I won't. That's the only difference."

John Mullane told me recently how Browne has lifted his teammates after their defeat to Clare. But he was doing the same thing 20 years ago. He delivered the keynote speech at half-time in the replayed 1992 All-Ireland U21 final against Offaly. At 19, Browne was their captain and laid himself bare with an oration that drove his team out of the dressing room with fire in their bellies. They landed their only ever title at that level.

It’s impossible to imagine a Waterford team without him now. He’ll also find it hard to adjust to life without intercounty training. I only hope he doesn’t go into politics. His family is steeped in Fianna Fail; his grandfather Patrick 'Fad' Browne served as a TD in the 1960s and '70s while his father, Tony senior, also represented the city as a councilor  and there was all sorts of talk that he would run in the last general election, but Tony is way too genuine and open for that sort of lark.

For the past 20 years, I have looked specifically for him; to see his reaction as Waterford bowed out of another championship without reaching the Holy Grail. I’ve seen Brian Cody go over and embrace him, I’ve seen players from other teams seek him out the minute the final whistle has blown.

There’s a reason for that. The man may never have won an All-Ireland but he’s up there with Ring, Shefflin, Carey, the best of them. The gas thing is while the rest of us are wishing him a happy birthday and preparing for his farewell, in his own mind and quiet way, given the unpredictable nature of this year’s championship, he’ll be quietly targeting this September as the most glorious curtain call possible to his inter county career.  

As for me? Well, turning 40 next year is bad enough, but not seeing this fella around the place anymore really is enough to bring a tear to the eye.