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The Dublin legend will be under the Laochra Gael spotlight on TG4/Nemeton TV
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'I was running, about to run over Jim Gavin thinking he'd forgotten about me' - Brogan on last Dublin game

Alan Brogan’s Laochra Gael episode will be aired on St Patrick’s Day.

DUBLIN LEGEND ALAN Brogan speaks candidly about his last game in a Dublin jersey in his upcoming Laochra Gael episode.

Brogan’s programme is an intriguing watch which covers various aspects of his inter-county career, including his memories of the infamous brawl with Tyrone in 2006 as well as the death of his grandfather prior to Dublin’s All-Ireland victory in 2011.

His final appearance for Dublin came in the 2015 All-Ireland final, where he scored a point as a second-half substitute to help his side to glory.

Brogan struggled with injuries in his final years of inter-county football, but was named to start the All-Ireland semi-final replay against Mayo that year. However, then manager Jim Gavin decided to make a change ahead of the game.

“I remember when Jim told me,” Brogan begins.

“He stopped me at the door and said ‘can I have a chat with you?’ I kind of knew what was coming.

He said, ‘I’m gonna run you off the bench.’ I certainly wasn’t going to throw the toys out of the pram. I went into the toilet, stood at the sink, had a look and said, ‘right, park that.’

“I went back out and wished the lads the best of luck and sat down as if I was always named on the bench.”

Dublin faced Kerry in the All-Ireland final that year and Brogan was hopeful that he would be introduced at some stage. He started to lose hope that he would be called upon as the game edged towards the final stages.

We hadn’t scored much and it was coming to 55 minutes and I thought I was gonna get the call. It was coming to 60 minutes and no call coming. One stage I was running down about to run over Jim Gavin thinking ‘had he forgotten about me?’

“But in fairness, he knew what he was doing and he put me in at 65, 66 minutes.”

Brogan made his introduction to rapturous applause in Croke Park, and marked his arrival with a nice point to help steer his side to victory.

“I saw Bernard make a run and I gave a kick-pass up to him and just kept going. At one stage I saw Diarmuid Connolly running past me and he didn’t even look at me he just kept going. He said to me afterwards [that] he was just making a decoy run to take someone away.

“A bit of a gap opened up and it just fell onto my left foot, I just caught it sweetly and it sailed over the bar.”

Alan Brogan’s Laochra Gael will be aired on TG4 on St Patrick’s Day at 5.30pm

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