Micka Brennan

Micka Brennan

Personal information
Irish name	Micheál Ó Braonáin
Sport	Hurling
Position	Left corner-forward
Born	Castlecomer, County Kilkenny
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Sarsfield’s
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County
1931-1943	Cork
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	2
All Irelands	2

Micka Brennan was an Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Sarsfield’s and with the Cork senior inter-county team from 1931 until 1943.

Early life

Micka Brennan was born in Castlecomer, County Kilkenny. He later attended the North Monastery school in Cork, a virtual hurling academy for young players, where he enjoyed more success.

Playing career

Club

Brennan played his club hurling with his local Sarsfield’s club and enjoyed some success. He won a minor county title in 1931, however, it would be 1951 before Brennan won a much sought-after senior county medal with Sar’s. It was the club’s first senior success. In an unprecedented display of sportsmanship the defeated Glen Rovers players chaired Brennan off the field. In 1957 when Sarsfield’s won a second county title Brennan was chairman of the club and was heavily involved in coaching the team

Inter-county

Brennan first came to prominence on the Cork senior inter-county team in the early 1930s. Unfortunately, it was a lean time for the Cork team. In 1939 Brennan’s long wait for success ended when he won his first Munster title. The subsequent All-Ireland final against Kilkenny has gone down in history as the ‘thunder and lightning’ final as the climax of the game was played in a tremendous downpour. Brennan, however, ended up on the losing side as victory went to Kilkenny on that occasion. The following year Cork surrendered their provincial crown, however, Brennan captured a National Hurling League medal. He added a second league medal to his collection in 1941, however, that year the All-Ireland Championship was severely hampered due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Tipperary and Kilkenny. As a result of this Cork were declared the Munster champions after defeating Limerick and automatically qualified to play Dublin in the All-Ireland final. The game turned into a rout as Cork beat ‘the Dubs’ by twenty points and Brennan collected his first All-Ireland medal. In the delayed Munster final, however, Tipperary defeated Cork. Brennan played no part in the 1942 championship, however, he returned in 1943 to capture a second Munster medal. He later added a second All-Ireland medal to his collection following Cork’s huge defeat of Antrim in the final. In 1944 Brennan was a sub when Cork retained their provincial and All-Ireland titles. Brennan retired from hurling shortly afterwards, however, he was recalled for a tournament game against Laois in 1951 and scored six goals in the process.

Brennan’s other honours include Railway Cup honours with Munster in 1937, 1939 and 1940.

Teams

Persondata
Name	Brennan, Micka
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	Castlecomer
Date of death
Place of death