Glen Rovers' Kilkenny man Brian Phelan still making a big contribution

When you come from a good hurling county like Kilkenny to marry the love of your life there is no better way to settle down on Leeside than to join the in-laws at their beloved Glen Rovers.

Brian Phelan has a good experience in Cork during his last 15 years as he recalled the big move and his involvement with the Blackpool outfit.

“My home club is Clara in Kilkenny and I played at intermediate level for the club from the age of 17 to 32, but when I got married to Michelle Murphy in 2012 I moved to Cork on a full-time basis.”

The Murphy family are staunch Glen folk with brother-in-law Ben a lifetime player, however Phelan laughed when recalling the year he left his boyhood club.

“The year I left Clara in 2011 to join the Glen, the last game I played was at senior level when we lost to Tullaroan and that saw us relegated which was a disappointing finish for me.”

In his first year playing with the Glen in 2012 Clara were crowned Kilkenny and All-Ireland intermediate champions and the following year the club won the Kilkenny senior championship for the first time in 26 years,

Success would come his way in Cork though.

“I was in Cork and my club were flying in Kilkenny, but to be fair, when I joined the Glen they were in transition and I am proud to say after playing five years at senior level it’s brought me great happiness and many memories.”

The first couple of years Phelan played full-back and in 2012 and 2013 he was moved to centre-forward before finishing his career at full-forward.

I was honoured to be part of the 2015 and 2016 county-winning teams and it was nice to finish with two medals under my belt.”

Phelan was no stranger to the Cork championship as he played with UCC from 2000 to 2003. He also played in the Dublin championship with UCD in 2004 and 2005 when they won consecutive titles.

Last year Phelan was selector and coach of the Glen minor hurling team that won the county championship. And now he is part of Tomás Mulcahy’s senior management team.

“This is my first year involved with the senior team and it’s great because I played with Graham Callanan and David Cunningham and they are great guys to be in the trenches with.

“Tomás pulls the strings and we have a great addition in Tommy Dunne from Toomevara along with Adam McCarthy also doing some coaching, so as a group we have great balance with good structures.”

When the Glen suffered relegation last season there was major disappointment, but Phelan is adamant that chapter is closed.

“I think we dropped our standards last year and were duly punished and there is no pointing fingers because as a club we knew that we took our eye off the ball and it cost us big time.

“This season the management team are trying to raise the bar across the board and I think the players have bought into the plan and without getting carried away, so far so good.”

RESPECT

The Senior A campaign began in style with wins over Killeagh and Inniscarra.

“The Senior A grade is very hard to win as all clubs will feel they are good enough to be playing in the top tier.

“Our intention is to take it one game at a time and give all teams the respect they deserve because we know opponents will not care about the tradition associated with our club when they step over that white line.”

A new style of play seems to be working as Phelan explained the approach to all games, as they were without Patrick Horgan in the opening rounds through injury. Apart from the Glen, Blarney, Bride Rovers, and Na Piarsaigh have also won their first two group games.

We have a new style of play and so far all is going well, but it’s early doors in this championship.

“The first two games went to plan and now we want to finish the group with a win against Ballyhea as our aim is to try get directly to the semi-final.

“We do know there are some serious teams left in this championship and we are hoping the lads will be ready for the tough tests that await them.”