BRIAN STACK WAS a teenager when he watched his brother Ronan win an All-Ireland club title with St Brigid’s after a dramatic comeback in Croke Park.
The Roscommon side made a dreadful start to that final, falling eight points behind Dublin’s Ballymun Kickhams after just 10 minutes, only to roar back in remarkable fashion and snatch a famous win with a late point through the boot of Frankie Dolan.
The younger of the Stack brothers looked on at the heroics in awe, yearning for the chance to achieve a similar feat in the green and red shirt some day. Brian was added to the squad in 2014 but the guard was slowly changing at this point. As the years ticked by, the key players from that All-Ireland-winning team started filtering out of the dressing room.
St Brigid’s added four more county titles in the subsequent years but the doors to the Connacht championship were shut when they came knocking. Stack worried that he may have come into the team too late, and that St Brigid’s might only have one golden year. But two weeks ago, St Brigid’s finally unpicked the lock to provincial glory against Galway giants Corofin.
It was the end of an 11-year-wait for St Brigid’s, and a first Connacht club title for Stack.
“It was very sweet,” said the St Brigid’s full-back.
“A lot of the team at the moment wouldn’t have won one before so that made it all the sweeter — and against Corofin as well. I started playing for St Brigid’s in 2014 so I was playing in 2016 [Connacht final] when they beat us quite heavily, and after extra-time in 2017 [Connacht semi-final]. They were a very good side, and still are, so it’s always good when you beat the best.
“We took a lot of learning from last year. We lost the Roscommon semi-final to Boyle and got together this year and all our lads were a year older. There was an awful lot of work being done by the club lads who are training since January. There was a serious amount of training and that was the difference this year.”
Brian’s brother Ronan is still serving the St Brigid’s cause. He’s one of the few survivors from the class of 2013, along with goalkeeper Cormac Sheehy who was also involved at the time. There’s a few more familiar faces in the extended panel too, including Gearóid Cunniffe who was one of the joint-captains in 2013.
And so, the rebuild has mainly fallen to Brian and the other newcomers.
“There was a lot of talk about this potential of the team, but potential is a hard thing to live up to unless you have the right attitude,” says Stack.
“A lot of people have to have the same attitude so we worked hard over the last couple of years.”
Stack is primarily a defender at present, but he has also spent time playing in the forwards. When St Brigid’s lost out to Corofin in that 2017 Connacht semi-final, Stack was tucked in at corner-forward.
Finding a settled place in the team is a possible explanation for his sensational form this year. His performances with Roscommon earned him an All-Star nomination along with teammate Enda Smith, who ended up becoming the county’s first player to make the final All-Star selection since 2001.
Stack has certainly maintained his standard throughout the club season. His individual displays have been noted as one of the main reasons for St Brigid’s progress to provincial supremacy and an upcoming All-Ireland semi-final against Castlehaven in the new year.
Without giving too much thought to the plaudits that he’s receiving, Stack is still happy to admit that he is enjoying his football at the moment.
“What it goes back to is I went away for two months last year to a few countries in Asia and just got that complete break from football. And when I came back, it just gave me that enjoyment factor to the year. I was straight back into games and I think that’s what I put it down to.”
Stack is motoring well now but his season was in peril after fetching a high ball during the Connacht quarter-final against Sligo’s Coolera-Strandhill. His left leg was straight when he arrived back down with the possession, feeling his knee dart back due to a painful hyper-extension.
The worst thoughts soon ensued as he awaited the results of a scan to determine the damage. While he waited for an update, Stack was almost resigned to a long spell in recovery.
“For the couple of days afterwards, I tried to come to terms with it,” he says fearing he would miss not just the Connact semi-final against Mohill of Leitrim, but perhaps a huge chunk of next season too.
“I thought I had ligament damage, so I went for a scan. There was no ligament damage and just bruised bone, so it was a matter of how much pain I could deal with. The Mohill game came a bit too quickly so I didn’t play that, but I came on for a minute at the end of the game to just stand on the edge of the square.
“Thank God it was all good and I didn’t do much training up to the final.”
Sunday 7 January is the date for St Brigid’s All-Ireland semi-final against Castlehaven. Brian once watched his brother scale these heights, wishing he was out there with him. Some 10 years later, having dodged a massive scare, he finally has his chance.
“I can’t wait and I’m really looking forward to it,” says an excited Stack.
“We’ll take each game as it comes and see how we get on.”
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