WORKING with Tyrone men on the sites around Belfast and Armagh lends itself to plenty of ‘slagging’ for electrician Aidan Breen, ahead of Satutrday’s big match. The Tempo man can take it though and laughs it off saying “ it’s a bit of craic” as he readies himself for his 102nd game in the green and white jersey of Fermanagh.
Breen hit the century mark against Westmeath in their league match in Mullingar and has been Mr Reliable for Fermanagh for a long time now. The 29 year old likes to carry the ball out of defence and chip in with a score from the outside of the left boot. This weekend he’ll face one of the biggest tests he has encountered since he made his debut against St Mary’s back in 2013, in the McKenna Cup.
“If you can’t get up for this game, it’s going to be a full house in Brewster, you have the All Ireland champions in your back yard, so to be honest, for us it will be easy getting up for it.
“It will be harder for Tyrone to get up for it. They are used to playing division one, playing against the best teams in the country and they are coming as All Ireland champions. It is going to be very hard for them to pay us the same respect and preparation as they would be if they were playing Donegal in the first round.
“We really have nothing to lose . The last couple of weeks has all been Tyrone. We haven’t thought about anything else other than Tyrone. There is a really good mood in the camp. These are the games that you wan’t to be playing in.”
Breen, Declan McCusker, Ryan Jones, Sean Quigley and Kane Connor would be five of the ‘old’ heads on the team now and roving defender, Breen, admits the game and the setup has changed massively since he first broke into the squad.
“It is mad now that I am one of the older boys about the team, that there is such a young squad. You get a bit of energy off the boys coming in.
“It is on a whole new level with nutrition and S&C (strength and conditioning) and all. It is enjoyable, you are pushing yourself to see how far you can go, and one of the things that I noticed, whenever I came into the panel, I would have been physically nowhere near it but now the lads that come in, there is a serious culture and you can see that coming from underage. Their speed and the strength of them is serious. I know when I was first coming in I was nowhere near what them boys are.”
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