Interview in 2002 Carlow GAA can claim few greater servants than Tinryland's Brendan Hayden. A model servant of club, county and province, he enjoyed an extraordinary career as both a player and administrator. His sons also carved a unique place for themselves in Carlow folklore. Born and reared in the rural hinterland of Tinryland (three miles from Carlow town), Brendan Hayden has given a lifetime of service to the GAA since his genesis in 1936. A permanent place in the Carlow GAA Hall of Fame is assured - nobody has contributed so much to the national code in the county. His career was outstanding; his service remarkable. His story is compelling. Brendan played adult football for 25 seasons. Twenty-four of those seasons were spent in the senior grade. All but one were with his hometown club, Tinryland. He broke onto the team as a seventeen-year-old and was still a regular fixture on the starting XV beyond the mid-'seventies (his last season on the senior team was 1977, a score and five years after his debut). As it was with the nearby Eire Og club in Carlow town that Brendan's sons were subsequently to become household names, it is interesting to note that Brendan made his mark with the town side too - even though he only played with them for a single season! The year was 1960 and, amazingly, in his first and only season with the (now) famous Eire Og outfit, Hayden helped them to their first ever senior championship win . . . as well as their first ever senior league success. The following year he returned to Tinryland, to whom he remained faithful for the rest of his career, despite getting married and settling in Carlow town in '62. And, while Tinryland was always his first love, the former Carlow and Leinster great does admit to becoming something of an honorary Eire Og man during the 'nineties, when his sons featured so prominently on the side that captured the nation's imagination and put Carlow football back on the map. Big time. With Tinryland, Brendan won a junior football championship in 1953 and that same team went all the way to the senior county final the following year only to fall to O'Hanrahan's. All the evidence suggested that a windfall of SFC medals was imminent but it wasn't to be and Brendan had to exercise great patience before finally getting his hands on three senior county championship mementos towards the autumn of his career - in 1971, '72 and '75. With Carlow, he made the No.12 jersey his own for a period of nine years. He subsequently spent a further three seasons at full forward after the great Ned Doogue decided to call it a day. As a player, Brendan served his county with distinction for the best part of 20 years. He was sub with the county minors in 1952 but made the starting team for the following two campaigns. He was subsequently on the Carlow senior panel right through from 1955 until 1970. Those were fabulous years and the twinkle in Brendan's eye is clearly detectable as he reminisces: "We had a particularly good side around about 1958/59 and into the early 'sixties. I remember Dublin beating us by no more than a couple of points and the great Offaly team beat us in 1960 en route to the All-Ireland final." Of the many superb games Brendan played for Carlow, one that stands out is the 1962 national football league semi-final against a Down side recognised as one of the best in the Association's sprawling history. The Mourne County had lifted Sam in 1960 and '61 but only beat Carlow by two points on their way towards adding the 1961/62 NFL crown. Hayden's performance that day was perhaps his finest hour in the Carlow jersey. Just as his own sons didn't lick their natural penchant for gaelic football from the ground, the apple hadn't fallen too far from the tree for Brendan either. His father Joe played full back for the club and was on the Tinryland side that won the county SFC in 1936. Brendan's brother Pat also represented the club. A regular on Leinster's Railway Cup panel from 1959 until 1966, Brendan lined out at full forward on the side beaten narrowly by Ulster in the '66 semi-final. He also played in the 1961 semi-final and was a sub for the final, which Leinster won. It was an era when the Railway Cup meant something . . . and Carlow players featured regularly for their province: "We had some great players, even here in Tinryland," says Brendan. "Peenie Whelan was captain of the Leinster team that won the Railway Cup in 1945, which rounded off a remarkable treble as he'd also won the county championship with Tinryland and the Leinster championship with Carlow in 1944 [the county's only senior provincial crown]. We [Tinryland] also had the great Andy Murphy who played wing back for Leinster and Mickey Whelan who lined out for the county for many years, as well as Joe Gorman. "Carlow had great players from other clubs too. Bill Canavan from Tullow was full back and Pax Connolly from Clonmore was another exceptional footballer. Add in Ned Doogue (full forward) and Eamonn Long (centre half forward/midfield) from O'Hanrahan's, and you can see what a strong side we had. "From 1958 until '63 was the best time in my era, when we played against all the best teams in the country and ran them all close. We just never seemed to get that crucial bit of luck that makes all the difference between winning and losing." His peers held Brendan Hayden in the highest esteem. Two true legends who have gone on record expressing their admiration for the Carlow great are none other than Kerrymen Mick O'Dwyer and Mick O'Connell, both of whom rate the Tinryland clubman amongst the very best they ever played against. Indeed, it seems that any time Brendan wasn't playing football, he was, erm, playing football! "We had a great team in the sugar factory - where I worked nearly all my life - called 'Cosets'. We won four Leinster senior finals, two Leinster hurling finals and two All-Ireland hurling finals - there was no All-Ireland competition in the football." It would appear that Brendan somehow found the time to hurl as well, then. He was a beaten All-Ireland junior finalist in 1960 and sub on the All-Ireland intermediate winning side of '62. He also won five county SHCs - three with Carlow town, one with St Fintan's and one with Palatine. In 1972, he won the senior football and hurling double. On the administration front, Brendan has been Chairman of Tinryland on three separate occasions, including a three-year term up until 2001. He also served on Carlow County Board and Leinster Council for 17 years and refereed at all levels bar a senior All-Ireland. As a referee, he was brought on the trip to the States as part of the All Stars tour to four cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York) in 1977. He was chosen at left half forward on the Carlow Team of the Millennium this year, in the company of three other Tinryland clubmen: Paddy O'Sullivan (right half forward), Peenie Whelan (right half back) and Andy Murphy (left half back). Brendan's four sons all represented Eire Og with distinction. Joseph, Colm and Brendan were on the side that dominated Carlow and Leinster football in the 'nineties and came so close to All-Ireland glory on a number of occasions. Another son, Martin, was an exceptional goalkeeper who had trials with Crystal Palace but, sadly, died aged only 23 after being struck by a vehicle in 1988. Meanwhile, Brendan's daughter Marion is also a remarkably gifted footballer. The 23-year-old plays for the O'Hanrahan's ladies and is also on the Carlow senior county team. Looking back over his illustrious career, Brendan Hayden says he doesn't regret a thing. The GAA became such an integral part of his life that, in many ways, it was his life, pure and simple: "I made a lot of friends all over the country - all through the GAA. That's the best part of it, all the friends you make. "You could have it as hard as you liked on the field but when it was over, it was over. No grudges were carried off the pitch and there was no whining or moaning. "Now they're losing their way up in Croke Park. There are yellow cards all over the place and everybody's looking for scapegoats. They're setting up committees left, right and centre and all these people have to be seen to be doing something to justify their existence . . . when all they're really doing is interfering and spoiling things for everybody else." Tweet

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