Brennan is the toast of Ardrahan

Date Published: 23-Jun-2010

John McIntyre

IT WAS a homecoming worthy of a true sporting champion. Paddy Brennan is not a man comfortable when a big ‘song and dance’ is made about him, but you could see how genuinely appreciative he was of the reception he got from his own people last Friday night.

It may have been over three months since Paddy achieved every National Hunt jockey’s ambition of winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but the passage of time has not dimmed the sense of achievement or, for that matter, the sense of pride in his native Ardrahan.

They flooded into Bradley’s of Labane on Friday night to fete Paddy on his return home for the first time since his landmark triumph on course specialist, Imperial Commander, in chasing’s most prestigious event last March. Elbow room was in such scare supply, there was nearly a need for a Stewards Inquiry.

Pat Whelan, next door neighbour of the Brennans in the townland of Castletaylor, was in flying form as master of ceremonies both before and after George McDonagh of Galway Bay FM interviewed some of the key people on Paddy’s road to success.

There was Lady Agnew, Annie Geoghegan, whose late husband Martin helped engender the young Brennan with a fearless approach to jumping obstacles, and the King brothers, Pat and Sean, from Clifden where Paddy often engineered extended holidays just to stay riding their ponies.

Of course, his proud parents, PJ and Maureen, were lauded for their role in supporting their son’s racing career after initial concern over Paddy’s decision to turn his back on the classroom prematurely. The former champion UK conditional jockey confided later that no matter how hard he tried, schoolbooks just weren’t for him.

PJ, a goalkeeper in his day for Ardrahan, hoped Paddy would go on to become a top hurler, but though he lined out for the club’s juveniles, the guest of honour admitted that from an early stage he knew he wasn’t going to reach the highest level on the hurling fields. It was then his dream of becoming a jockey took over.

Paddy told the attendance of his tough early days in Jim Bolger’s yard in Coolcullen, Co. Carlow, and how one morning he deliberately showed up wearing a Guinness tee-shirt in the hope of getting a new jacket from Bolger, who to this day remains notoriously anti alcohol. The ruse worked.