The support I got from the GAA community all over the country, that’s what gave me the strength to beat it’

In the third part of our Hidden Heroes series, Donegal native Joe McBrearty talks about overcoming cancer and continuing to chase his coaching dream

What do the late great Bobby Charlton and Séamus Coleman have in common apart from being hugely successful soccer stars? Answer: they were both coached by Joe McBrearty.

He hasn’t hit 50 yet but McBrearty has already packed an extraordinary amount into his coaching career, one which started when he was just 16 and saw him become head coach with the Donegal senior footballers under Brian McEniff in his mid-20s.

The unique connection with Charlton came about when he was asked to take part in a coaching day in Strabane. Two “ambassadors” were on hand and they turned out to be England and Manchester United legend Charlton and iconic cricketer Ian Botham.

“UTV were there with their cameras when they came around and started watching me coaching Gaelic. And the next thing Bobby Charlton says, ‘Can I join in?’ and I said, ‘You can join in surely if you want’,” McBrearty recalls.

“My late Dad was a big fan of his for years. So I came home then and I said to Dad, ‘You’ll have to watch the news tonight. Wait till you see who I was coaching today’.”

That is just one of numerous notable moments throughout McBrearty’s rollercoaster journey.

He spent a morning with the South African rugby team last year the day before they played Ireland — meeting the likes of head coach Rassie Erasmus and inspirational skipper Siya Kolisi — and a day with the Crusaders when they played Munster in Cork.

The main goal with all of these meetings is what he can bring back to his first love: football.

It all started around Fintra with his native Killybegs before his wings spread to the likes of Glenties (where Jim McGuinness played under him), Glenfin and Kilcar, as well as managing the Donegal U-21 footballers.

Future All-Ireland SFC winners like Karl Lacey, Frank McGlynn and the McGee brothers, Neil and Eamon, played under his watch with the U-21s and it meant a lot for people to say that he played a part when McGuinness led them to Sam Maguire at senior level in 2012.

Relocating to the capital has only fuelled his passion further with DCU availing of his services. There, he coached under Niall Moyna and Seán Boylan and worked with the likes of Diarmuid Murtagh, Dessie Ward, Enda Smith and Paddy Durcan.

St Peregrine’s, St Margaret’s, Ratoath and St Brigid’s ladies (currently) have also been important road markers along the way, all of which is made even more remarkable by his circumstances.

Playing for any length of time was never going to be on his radar because he was born without sight in one eye. That hasn’t deterred him, quite the contrary in fact.

“I realised that every time I turned to my left, I couldn’t see so once I turned to the left, anything could happen. So I realised then that there was too much of a risk on my good eye. So that’s why I went into coaching,” he says of a career littered with silverware.

“I knew that I wouldn’t be playing much further down the line so I just got the grá for the coaching end of it really young and it’s just gone from strength to strength.”

Not being allowed to drive should restrict him, but McBrearty is not the type to allow something to get in his way when he wants it badly enough.

“I don’t drive because of my eye but I don’t let it affect me. If I want to be somewhere, I’ll be there. I always plan ahead and could get a bus and if not, I’ll get a taxi.”

Coaching is his drug and improving players is his addiction.

“I just love being able to give back to players,” McBrearty says. “I love trying to make them better, not just better players, better people as well.

“It’s lovely to see any player develop. There’s nothing better than to see a player that can turn off right or left and score, or use their right or left hand. It’s great to see a player develop.

“Or then if you try something in training and the next thing it comes off in the game. The manager turns around and says, ‘Joe that’s what you’ve worked on the last night’. I had a few instances like that this year. That’s the ultimate.”

Everything, however, went on the back burner some years ago with a cancer diagnosis that he describes as “the biggest kick in the teeth imaginable”.

The AIB Club Championships regularly utilise the apt slogan of ‘The Toughest’ and McBrearty is a prime example of someone overcoming all types of odds to fuel their GAA passion.

“One of the doctors said to me, ‘Joe, do you know Lance Armstrong? Well, that’s a similar case to what you have’. Straight away I just said to myself, ‘I’m not going to let it deteriorate me. I’m going to be positive about it and fight it head on’.

“The support from Maura and Fiachra [his son] was great. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

The GAA, as it always does, also came up trumps with McBrearty’s many playing and coaching connections from the past 33 years coming to his aid when they were needed most.

“The support I got from the GAA community all over the country, that’s what gave me the strength to try and beat it. What people have done for me these last three years I could never repay them,” he says.

“It gave me the strength to say, ‘Here, I’m not going to let this beat me’. People that you thought maybe didn’t like you, maybe because you got one over them in a final or something.

“They might have said something wrong to you or I said something wrong to them but when you need them most, they’ll be there for you. Once word got out I had the sickness, the support I got every day of the week from people was amazing.”

One icon of the game has been particularly supportive to him — Donegal legend Michael Murphy.

“Michael has been so good to me. Brigid’s did a 100km walk last year and I did it in memory of Dad. Michael rang me and said, ‘Joe, I’ve donated there, but go onto the website and pick a pair of runners and I’ll send them up to you’. He’s like that. You couldn’t ask for better.”

Fundraisers were organised by St Peregrine’s and Killybegs to help cover his medical costs, and he couldn’t wait to finally get back to his happy place once he was out of the woods.

“I couldn’t get back quick enough. It’s just my passion, my life. It’s what I’ve grown up with since I was a young teenager. My week’s not right unless I’m out on the pitch doing something. It’s what I live for practically.

“When you can put the bag over the shoulder and out the door, you’re happy. It’s taking your mind away from your daily life.

“Once you get out onto the pitch, tie the boots and away, you just become a different person. You couldn’t beat it. I don’t know what I’d do without the GAA.”

McBrearty has coached thousands of players — “hopefully I’ll be carried out doing it” — and Coleman is a famous pupil that he regularly gets asked about.

“You could tell that Séamie was a leader and his will to win, even in training sessions, was second to none. He always wanted the best, not only for himself but for the players around him.

“His dedication could never be questioned because he was always there. Even to this day when he’s at home he’s up in Fintra, I know he trained a couple of times [with the Killybegs seniors] during the summer as well.

“When he was on the ball, he had such a drive. You can see it even when he played in the soccer there for Everton, and Ireland, when he got the ball he was away. His determination to win is unreal and a great lad too.”

Coleman is one of McBrearty’s many success stories, and no doubt there are endless other chapters to be added to what is already a coaching tale for the ages.