Alan Brogan was on Off The Ball last night following his decision to retire from Inter county football, and he revealed that the decision to retire was his own as Jim Gavin was keen to keep him.
I had a chat with Jim Gavin and you think is this really the end? so yeah, it was an emotional day yesterday, it was an emotional day this morning but I know I've made the right decision for myself, my family and the team as well. Jim Gavin had left the door oppen for me. I'm not sure that he was shocked by it but he probably would have wanted me to stay on, and he gave me an option to have another think about it, but I think in your career you need to make decisions for yourself and not be influenced by things going on around you.
Brogan revealed that he considered retirement last year, but an article about Declan O'Sullivan caused him to reconsider:
It's ironic, I remember reading an article with Declan O' Sullivan about him saying that he wanted to come back to Kerry and end on a high. He managed to do that, and that struck a chord and that was one of the days I decided I'd give this one last go and try to end on a high like Declan O'Sullivan did the year previous. So I suppose it's ironic that he should choose today to finally hang up his boots from club football.
Brogan was true to his word, he kicked the final score in this year's victorious All Ireland final. He also revealed in the interview that he began his career at wing-back with the Dublin minors, before a surplus of defenders at a training session in 2001 caused Tommy Lyons to accomodate him up front. It was to be a permanent change of scenery as Brogan won Footballer of the Year in 2011, an award complemented with two All Ireland titles and 11 Leinster titles garnered in 70 championship appearances with the Dubs. You can listen to the entire interview here.
Picture credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE
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