HE’S BEEN CONFIRMED as Ireland’s captain for the one-off EirGrid International Rules test against Australia on 21 November and Bernard Brogan has admitted that he’d love the chance to lead Dublin out in the future.
Brogan, 31, has watched his brother Alan captain the Sky Blues in recent years and with some speculation surrounding the future of current skipper Stephen Cluxton, the door could be open for a new Dublin leader.
“The captain is an important role in the team,” said Brogan.
“It’s about facilitating what’s there and trying to add anything you can.
“It’s a massive honour and I’m delighted to captain my country. If I was ever asked to captain Dublin I’d love it as well.
“It’s a hard one to know, we’ve had the likes of Stephen Cluxton and Alan before and Cluxton is still there again and we’re hoping that he’s going to commit.”
When quizzed on Cluxton’s intercounty future, Brogan replied: “He hasn’t confirmed anything but we’re hoping…like he has loads left in him and that’s what I’d always say to him.
“He’s an unbelievable bit of stuff.
“I think if he gets the body right, he has a couple of creaks and niggles that he’s got to get right over the next couple of months but we’re hoping.
“We’d be very disappointed if he couldn’t because he’s been such a big part of what we’ve done over the last 10 years I suppose. So fingers crossed.”
Brogan admits that the potential loss of Cluxton would lead to a huge transition in the Dublin team.
“Yeah, yeah, definitely he’s so important to what we do.
“But there hasn’t been any mention of him leaving so I wouldn’t comment on him going.
“We all expect him to be around and we all think he has loads to add so there hasn’t been a mention of it.
“I don’t think he’s going anywhere. He loves Dublin, he’s a quiet lad and we all know what he’s about.
“Everything he is about is Dublin GAA and everything he does is focused towards Dublin GAA so I’d say he’ll still play until he can’t walk so we’ll be alright.”
Brogan admitted that getting the nod from Ireland boss Joe Kernan for the clash with the Aussies was a bolt from the blue.
“It’s a call I didn’t expect to get. He rang me a few weeks ago and asked me to get involved and said he wanted me to be captain.
“I haven’t done much captaincy in my life with club and county.
“I’ve been on the end of some great leaders with club and county.
“All I can do is try and do my best for the team, try and motivate them.
“We’re up against a really strong Australian side so these lads are all top inter-county lads, the best of the best in the country, so we don’t need much motivating.
“It’s about trying to get everyone to row in together, have us all singing off the same hymn sheet and trying to put the systems of play into place.”
Ace forward Brogan is also hopeful that Diarmuid Connolly will be free to commit to the Ireland cause, but acknowledged that it’s very much dependent on club commitments with county finalists St Vincent’s.
“Yeh, I spoke to him and Joe spoke to him,” Brogan revealed.
“I chatted to Joe about it again today. Diarmuid is captain of his club at the moment and we know how well they are doing and how well he is going.
“They are planning big things and he said he just wants to get over this weekend and see how he is then. We are hoping he commits to it.
“As I said there, we need good kick-passers of the ball out the field and there is none better than Dermo.
“He would be a massive asset to the team. He hasn’t said no, he is just committing to the club at the moment and getting over this weekend.
“We are hoping that come next week he’ll be able to give us a commitment to it.
“The time commitment with the club, even if they won in Dublin with the Leinster club it is so tight and difficult to commit but we have our fingers crossed because he would be a massive asset to us.
“I think the key for him and them is winning the Dublin Championship.
“If he gets over that he might feel like he can commit a bit. It’s a Friday night and a Saturday morning.
“It depends, if the game is on the Sunday the following week then he might be able to come up and give it some time. I wouldn’t say he will say no if they do win.
“We’ll just have to look at it. You have to be fair to everyone that has been training with Ireland as well, you can’t just turn up on the day, you have to come in, learn the systems and learn the tactics as well.
“Lads have been training for the last eight weeks as well, coming up from all over the country, so you have to give everyone the same opportunity.
“Dublin’s county final is just a little bit later because we went to the All-Ireland final this year, but we are hoping next week to see what happens.
“He definitely hasn’t said no or anything like that, I’ve had a positive conversation with him about it.”
