BLUE ERA IS BEGINNING

Proud boss Brennan determined to get Dubs back on top

- BY PAT NOLAN

LIFE comes at you fast. Dessie Farrell stepped down as Dublin manager in late June and three days later Ger Brennan, on his 40th birthday, quit Louth.

Some five weeks later Brennan was announced as Farrell's successor. A cynic would join the dots, but Brennan explains how he concluded that he had brought Louth as far as he could in the period between their historic Leinster title win and the end of their Championship campaign.

Once leaving Louth, he embarked on a couple of trips with his family in July before rounding off discussions with the Dublin county board in early August. Brennan insisted that there was no grand masterplan in terms of plotting a path to the Dublin job, one he says he didn't necessarily covet because he was "happy out regardless".

"I'm always a big believer, as a lot of Irish mammies would say, what's for you, it won't pass you," he says. "In relation to Louth, it was an incredible journey with the whole county as a whole, the players, the county board.

"The season gone in particular, we actually began to train in different parts of Louth to, I guess, build a brand and increase support and that certainly helped in terms of those kind of connections and bonds.