Stack keen to savour ‘special occasion’ as county final showdown looms

By Kevin Egan

At half-time in the county semi-final between St Brigid’s and Clann na nGael, the Johnstown club looked like they might be poised to deliver a sensational upset. By the time the game went into its closing minutes, Brigid’s had seen out the storm and were poised to return to the county final with five points to spare.

The transition from one of those match states to the other owed a lot to Brian Stack. The club and county captain knew that the pressure was on, and he showed leadership by taking the initiative and changing the game’s momentum. After Ciarán Lennon kicked a rousing two-pointer for Clann, Stack kicked his club’s first score of the second half, then soared up in between two opposition players to seize a kickout to set up another.

The strength of the wind meant that Clann were never out of contention, but they were always chasing after that.

“If someone is going to make a mistake, I’d prefer it to be me to make that mistake than someone else. In those moments, I always go looking for the ball or see what’s on,” is how the man himself describes his mindset in moments like that.

“It’s definitely something I’d be conscious of. It’s easy to try and sit back and hope that someone else does it, but our goal is to have 15 lads on the pitch that want to do something themselves. There’s no one looking sideways at someone else.

“You just have to recognise the moments, whether it’s a kickout or a contested ball and you just have to go and get it. You see it with Pearses, if there’s a kickout when they’re under the cosh, David Murray will always get it short and get them out of trouble.

“The natural instinct is to hope that someone else takes on the responsibility. You just have to check yourself and decide I’m going to do this or do that, or whatever needs to be done at the time. It’s about getting yourself into positions to do something.”

When it comes to positions, that leads to another curious aspect of Stack’s performance. He was nominated for an All-Star on foot of a stellar season for Roscommon in 2023, shutting down several of the country’s best forwards. For some, that would make it an easy call to just stitch the number three jersey onto his back and let him do his thing, but it’s a measure of his versatility that he’s back out in the half-back line for St. Brigid’s this year, while he’s also been seen at midfield and even in the half-forward line at various stages in his career.

“My first year I was a Roscommon minor I was full-back, the second year I was centre-forward so that kind of tells its own story!” he grins.

“When I'm chatting to people they always say I should be playing somewhere else. Even if I'm out on the field they say I should be full-back, if you're full back you’re told the team needs you further out there. You just have to play whatever position you're in.

“Obviously the new rules have changed things now, you probably have to adapt to the game a bit. If you're full-back you can't really attack now, I used to be love coming into the attack from full -back, Going back wasn't really a shock to the system, I was used to it. I know it's something I can do but I don't want to limit myself to that. It's nice to be out around the middle now and get more action in the game.”

Throughout the conversation, it’s clear that for all his ambitions of winning more silverware with St Brigid’s and Roscommon, he never loses sight of the fact that it’s still playing a game, and that regardless of the result, being able to play a game he loves in a familiar environment is a privilege.

Looking forward to Sunday's Roscommon SFC final against Pádraig Pearses (throw-in 2pm), he says: “Yeah it's definitely fun, especially down here with this group, they’re good lads to be around. Look, Roscommon are good lads too, I like being in there as well but down here it's something special. I've been coming here since I was a kid so I know all the people around it. Come county final Sunday, we’ll all have friends and family there, that makes it a special occasion and is a big part of why we’re looking forward to it.”