Niall Breslin says he has no regrets about departing the Westmeath panel in 2004, a season in which the county won its first and only senior provincial title. "My body wasn't able for it," the man better known as Bressie told the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Moments podcast.
Breslin, who played at minor and U21 level for Westmeath, had retired from professional rugby with Leinster that year. He joined a Westmeath panel which was in its first season with Páidí Ó Sé as manager.
"I had an abundance of pretty serious chronic injuries," said Breslin, who is also the lead singer with The Blizzards.
"I just had this belief that I could get rid of them. That year, I retired with a ruptured quad and a consistent tearing of my hamstring.
"My first session with Westmeath, I was flying. I'd just come from a professional background. You would naturally just be a bit stronger and conditioned for that level of sport. I was so excited.
24 July 2004; Westmeath manager Paidi O Se, left, and selector Tomas O Flatharta celebrate victory over Laois. Leinster GAA Senior Football Championship Final Replay, Westmeath v Laois, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
"It was in Shandonagh just outside Mullingar, my first session, and there was a buzz around the team. We knew this team was going to potentially do something. We were looking strong that year.
"We had a training match and my hamstring went. It went badly. Tomás Ó Flatharta was the fitness coach who was really no-holds-barred. He kind of came up to me and told me my hamstring doesn't exist.
"I was like, 'I'm not doing this again. I'm not going through this again where I have people telling me that it's in my head'. I left and then they won Leinster.
"I don't regret it. I probably wouldn't have made the team anyway but I still would have loved the medal."
7 November 2003; Niall Breslin, Leinster Lions, in action against Llanelli Scarlets. Celtic League Tournament, Leinster Lions v Llanelli Scarlets, Donnybrook, Dublin. Picture credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
Four years previous, Breslin won a Leinster U21 medal with Westmeath despite not being allowed play due to the conditions of his rugby scholarship at UCD.
"There was absolutely no way whatsoever that my scholarship was going to let me play Gaelic football," he explained.
"[Westmeath] just won the All-Ireland U21 [in 1999] and we had an unbelievable team. The year after, it just kept coming up and Luke Dempsey... They won Leinster. It was against Meath in Tullamore. I got a medal for it, which was strange but basically the All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick, I was told in no uncertain terms, 'If you play that game, you'll lose your scholarship'.
26 April 2000; Westmeath players stand for the national anthem prior to the GAA All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship Semi-Final match between Limerick and Westmeath at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, Laois. Photo by Damien Eagers/Sportsfile
"For some reason, I just didn't think they'd find out. I didn't realise it was on TV. It was in Portlaoise and I was brought on in a game I think we should have won well. With all due respect, we were a better team than Limerick. We had some incredible players. Dessie Dolan was still playing. A phenomenal team. We just did not play well.
"I was brought on for what I thought was to rough it up a little bit. I hadn't played a game of Gaelic football in a year. I caught the first high ball. [I thought], 'I'm going to have an absolute field day here'. Then, next high ball, I got a punch in the ribs and that was it, I was completely floored and I couldn't breathe.
"I think we missed a penalty in the last few minutes and lost by a couple of points. It was pretty devastating. Also, I had to go back to [UCD], thinking 'I'm going to lose my scholarship for this'. But it was worth it."
20 August 2018; Niall Breslin of The Blizzards performs during the Limerick All-Ireland Hurling Winning team homecoming at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile
Breslin said Gaelic football is a sport he still adores.
"It did start with GAA. People ask me how I ended up playing rugby but I was a Gaelic player, I wasn't a rugby player. I became a rugby player. Gaelic was my first love," he said.
"What I still love about Gaelic football is the simplicity of it. I remember coming into Leinster for my first training session and I got a manual of just lineout moves. It kind of felt that when you move into professional sport, your autonomy goes, which is important at professional level but they start to take your natural instincts and ability and form them a little bit.
"With Gaelic, I never had that. You just marked the guy you were marking. You do your job on him and you play to whatever the team's tactics are and your honour them. I used to love that. I was turfed into the middle of the field and my job was to pick the ball out of the sky and not get too clever with it and just punt it down.
"We had two corner forwards when I was for Mullingar Shamrocks - Bernard Flynn had just retired but I'd got to play a few games with him and then Mickey Reilly who was one of the best corner-forwards Westmeath ever had, and then Eddie Casey was also [a] county [player].
"I remember Mickey Reilly coming up to me after a game - he was up to my hip - and he slapped me in the face and said, 'If you ever kick a ball at me again, I will knock you out. I'm the fastest person on the pitch. Catch it, put it into space - don't think about it'. I was like, 'Yeah, that sounds easy'. That's why me and Mickey got on very well."
Quiz: Identify The 10 Well-Known Inter-County GAA Players From Their Minor Photo
