Bracken brushes off injury woes to play his part again

When Tullamore pulled off a shock win over Rhode in the 2013 county final, Nigel Bracken was just 20 years old, adding mobility to a group that was not expected to usurp the top three of Rhode, Edenderry and Clara that summer.

By the time they got back to the county final seven years later, Bracken was among the scorers as Tullamore got to half-time ahead of the Village only to be reeled in by the end.

This time, however, it was different. The underage revolution was well underway in the town, and players like Cormac Egan, Oisín Keenan Martin and John Furlong – all of which would start for Offaly in the All-Ireland U-20 final ten months later – were coming down the line to transform the Blues’ fortunes.

Diarmuid Egan, Harry Plunkett, Corey White and Mike Fox were just some of the new faces that were there when Tullamore turned the tables on Rhode in the autumn of 2021, but it was a measure of Nigel Bracken’s versatility that the player who was wing-forward the previous year was now back playing corner-back, just quietly doing whatever role his team needed.

The incredible run of success at minor and U-20 level would continue, and more and more of the senior players would step aside to make way. Out of that 2021 side, Paul McConway is now the manager with Kevin O’Brien part of his backroom team; Shane Dooley has turned 40 but is still lighting it up with the second team, winning intermediate and Senior B medals in the last two summers; while John Moloney is hoping to add to his medal collection with Maigh Cuilinn in Galway.

Nigel Bracken however is still there. Injuries haven’t been kind to him and he missed most of this summer, but he came off the bench in the semi-final against Rhode, and is ready now to be part of Sunday’s final against Ferbane, in whatever capacity he’s needed.

“You just have to be ready to play in different roles, the lads on the management team can’t really foresee what’s going to happen, you just have to be as best prepared as you can to know the different roles in the different lines. As long as I get to be part of it and we get the result we want, I won’t worry about that!”

Despite enduring a run of hamstring, calf and ankle issues that would demoralise a lot of players, Bracken is looking at things the other way, saying that he’s happy to be able to be actively involved when it means the most.

“I actually broke my ankle last November, before we played The Downs in the Leinster championship,” he explains.

“So I got back from that midway through the league, I kind of had a clean run through the first round of the championship, then there was the calf issue, the opposite one to last year. You just have to take it as it is and get knuckled down into the rehab and just have yourself right as soon as you can, you can’t really dwell on it too much because the mind kind of works in funny ways. Panicking and worrying isn’t going to aid your recovery, that’s how I look at it anyway.

“It is frustrating, missing games, but luckily enough for me, the way it’s worked out the last two years is I have been back available at knockout time of the year.”

Under Niall Stack, Tullamore thrived by playing a systematic, structured type of game that worked out in their favour. Between 2020 and 2023, they played in five county finals (all four seasons plus a 2021 replay) and the most that any team scored in an hour was 1-9.

Bracken, who has always had a knack for delivering a long-distance score and who always had the mobility that’s needed to thrive in the new game, relishes the new challenge but is also happy to have been part of a club that was able to win in different ways.

“I enjoyed the old rules for what they were, we did okay in them as well, but I really am enjoying the new rules and how we've adapted to them as a team,” he said.

“I wouldn't wish anything back, the old rules are what they were, but I think it was probably more for supporters that they weren't enjoyable.

“The new game is that bit faster and probably has a bit more athleticism to it. This is my second year playing them, and hopefully I'll get a couple more of them as well.”

The Tullamore team and the sport of Gaelic football itself has changed a lot since Nigel Bracken emerged on the scene, and through it all, he remains, as important to the cause as ever. Another couple of seasons at the coalface is the least we’d expect for him.