ONE set of brothers who are going to make their way into the record books following Sligo’s historic Connacht Senior Championship win are the Brehenys, Tommy and Mark, from the St Mary’s club.
It isn’t a rare occurrence for a set of brothers to line out on a provincial-winning side but for Tommy and Mark their input into this Sligo success is all the more historic as manager and player respectively.
Mark was Sligo’s top scorer with four points in the one-point defeat of Galway last Sunday - a day that they brought the Nestor Cup to the north-west for the first time in 32 years.
The key forward may have lined out with No. 14 on his back but he was an integral part of the half-forward line throughout the afternoon.
“Words don’t describe the feeling at the moment, we started out nine long months ago and we trained very, very hard over those months and thankfully it has all come together today - it is one of the best days of my life,” Mark beamed just minutes after Sligo team captain, Easkey’s Noel McGuire, had lifted the Nestor Cup.
“We waited 32 years to see silverware back in Sligo and I just have to pay a special tribute to all of the lads and my own brother for the commitment that they gave.
“Tommy got into a poison chalice in a way - no one wanted to take this job and 12-13 months later we are Connacht champions.
“It is full credit to him, the backroom team and all of the lads,” said the prolific forward.
“It is a fantastic feeling and we aren’t going to stop here, we have an All-Ireland quarter-final coming up and that is what we are looking forward too!”
Mark’s brother Tommy, who masterminded the dismissal of a vaunted Galway side coached by ex-Sligo boss Peter Ford, was particularly high in his praise of the wonderful display by the Sligo defence - a unit that only conceded three points in the second-half.
“They [the defenders] have been fantastic all-year and I think this is the first game in 2007 that we haven’t conceded a goal.
“We knew that we would have to do that if we were going to win the game and, luckily enough, that was the case. Our backs played fantastically well,” he enthused.
