Main menu:
Features > Media Archive
Time to seize the moment Sunday Sunday Independent 16-08-09 Damian Lawlor
John O'Brien tells Damian Lawlor that he is running out of time to make the most of his talent.
JOHN O'Brien remembers walking into the physiotherapy clinic in Naas and sensing the torment that lay ahead. It was the spring of 2007, seven weeks after he had fractured his hip in a car accident and this was the latest step in his recovery. Inside the treatment room his brother Paddy, a qualified physio, waited. The recovery would be long; there would be no shortcuts. So began the hour-long crawl from Toomevara to north Kildare, sometimes as often as four visits a week, with the older brother testing the younger, working him furiously on machines, stretching, rebuilding and improving the flexibility in the hip.
It took nearly a year to get him functioning properly again, but the brothers persevered. They were both serious hurlers. They knew what was at stake. Before the accident, John O'Brien was in the form of his life. He danced through Toomevara's 2006 Munster club championship triumph and finally looked ready to deliver week-in, week-out on the big stage. One night though, on his way home from Limerick, it all went wrong and he wondered if he would ever play again. After the initial shock of the accident wore off, he was left with a muddle of two emotions: lucky to be alive but still feeling a little sorry for himself. He lost over two stone in the early days of his recovery and his sisters and friends were quick to shower sympathy on him. Not Paddy though. When he knocked on that door there was more pragmatism than compassion. Paddy was straight down the line. No bullshit. Follow his lead and the hip would be fine. Cut a corner and the show was over.
"Yeah, Paddy was the one," O'Brien admits. "The accident opened my eyes. The amount of work it took to get back right wasn't funny. At one stage I even wondered whether I'd ever be able get back to running properly. "I spent nine months getting intense physio and I got the best of everything. I was getting work from Donncha Ryan at home and then driving up to Paddy. He was immense, the only one to come down hard on me. He told me to get my head down to it or else I was only papering over the cracks. I suppose since then I've decided to put the foot to the floor." To make sure he wasn't taking that foot off the pedal, he received another wake-up call earlier this year. It was January and he was in the middle of the pre-season plod in Thurles. With his sides aching and lungs bursting, he looked up and saw Seamus Hennessy, one of the county's U21 players, running at the far side of the field. It was Hennessy's first night with the senior squad. O'Brien looked over at Lar Corbett and the two of them giggled.
"Larry and I both came into the Tipp set-up at the start of 2001 and later that year the whole squad went to South ***ica on holiday. Seamus and his father came with us, but he was only a squirt of a lad," he explained. "All of a sudden he's here with us on the panel. A bloody giant; it was just another reminder of how quickly it all goes.
"There was another evening some years back when I was sitting down with Willie Ryan (current Tipp captain) in Toomevara. We were after winning a county title and I asked Willie what it felt like to have a first county medal won. 'What are you on about?' he replied. 'This is my third.' I couldn't believe it. The years are flying by. Hard to imagine I made my championship debut eight seasons ago. I have to make the remaining years count." Toomevara folk can cast few accusations of lost years. Time and again O'Brien has steered them from dangerous waters; when there's a match at stake he's usually the one to deliver an ace. His performances seldom dip despite the club's almost never-ending series of big games these past 10 years. But it's really only now that we're seeing him apply such steadiness to his inter-county career. Early on, his form was very up and down, although much of that uncertainty could be linked to a spate of injuries -- broken arms which needed pins and plates, smashed thumbs and countless hamstring strains. There were several times when he togged out only half-fit
He'll admit himself that he's been inconsistent. Since 2001 he's only made 14 championship appearances, although it says much about his raw talent that he's still managed 2-18 in those games. Since Liam Sheedy took over, however, he has nailed down a regular spot. He featured in all three games of their 2008 campaign and banged over 0-4 in the Munster final against Clare. This year's rhythm has been so steady that he has featured in all 11 of Tipp's league and championship encounters. Only three others, Paul Curran, James Woodlock and Benny Dunne, share that boast. He looks to have reached that extra gear."The bottom line is that my lifestyle was lackadaisical in the past and I wasn't putting in the effort that was required," he says. "My commitment has been 100 per cent for the last while, I'm a lot more disciplined off the field and I've put in a bit more effort. Before, I was inclined to let my hurling do the talking but I realise now it's what happens around the game that counts just as much. Another thing -- after all those injuries I was always rushing back to play. Silly. I wasn't doing myself justice. You learn."
Many Tipp forwards have come and gone this decade but O'Brien was never cast aside. Michael Doyle, Ken Hogan, Babs Keating and Sheedy; they all knew he had something to offer the team. He always knew there was a lot more in the tank too. "I never thought my career would slip away. I always knew that I never really gave it 100 per cent. I could get away with things at club level but there was no hope of getting away with stuff at inter-county. I felt that if I increased my effort I would be there or thereabouts." Now settled and more focused, jolted by the odd wake-up here and there, he's finally building on the natural flair that both he and Paddy, an All-Ireland medal winner in 2001, were blessed with. "Just because you have a bit of talent doesn't mean you'll automatically make it," O'Brien warns. "Paddy was one of the best hurlers around when we were growing up but he was plagued with injury and he was like me, always trying too hard to get right, playing games when he was still injured because he didn't want to let anyone down.
"I've learned, though, that you get blown out of it when you're only half right hitting the pitch. Even after doing the hip, I got giddy when I had plenty of rehab done and thought I'd be okay for the first round of the 2007 season. I rushed back. Sure I was miles off. Being Tipp captain that year gave me an added incentive but I tried to get back too quick. Disaster. "I learned a lot from Tommy (Dunne). He was always in the gym. He used to coax me along at first but I shied away from it to be honest. Then I saw Tommy playing well every day he went out and it struck a chord with me. He had the work done. In all areas. I realise now that it wasn't happening by fluke. It took me a while, but I copped on." O'Brien's current role is an interesting one. He hits scores regularly enough, including a brilliant 1-2 against Clare, but he drops back a lot more to feed the other forwards with low, darting passes. The kind of ball that predators like Larry Corbett, Seamus Callinan and Noel McGrath thrive on. He is also a part of their puck-out strategy, whether directly contesting them or taking the wing-back away and making space for those inside.
Their calling card is movement. He watched a video of last year's All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Waterford recently and their stagnancy sickened him. "I'd like to think we've come on a bit since then. "I'm going okay but my shooting is still not 100 per cent and I would like to score more," he concedes. "But as a unit we're moving well. We're settled, not complacent. We're on the same wavelength. Noel McGrath is a serious hurler with a great brain; he'll spot you straight away if you make a run. I knew he would start this year's championship -- I said it about seven months back. At 16, he was running the show for Loughmore." If they can stop fading in games they would be close to the complete unit. Three times this season Tipperary have wilted with the opposition on the ropes. But that's been a regular hallmark of Tipp hurling since 2001. In that time, Wexford, Galway and Limerick have all put them to the sword even though Tipp appeared to be sailing. The anaemic tendencies don't concern O'Brien greatly. He agrees that fading has blighted this season's crop but reckons that any team would find it hard to relentlessly maintain the standards that they have set.
"Yeah, we faded against Cork and Clare and a bit against Waterford too but we played enough hurling in stages to win all 3. Until we start losing I won't get too upset. We're inclined to put up a lead and it can be very hard to drive on. I wouldn't say we're losing concentration, maybe lads are working so hard that they are wrecked and physically they fade a little 4 a few moments. That happens every team at some stage.
"The main thing is we're coming out the other side. If we surrender a 20-point lead some day and lose I might get worried, but it doesn't bother me a whole lot."
Today they meet a Limerick side that won't fear them. It's in the Shannonsiders' DNA to bring Tipperary to the wire and one need only refer to their recent championship clashes to realise how little is between the teams. Tipp haven't won a senior championship game at Croke Park since 2001, the same year O'Brien made his debut. It's a statistic that damns them. "We're impatient," O'Brien agrees. "Tipp need success so badly. Down here you're not allowed to play bad games and success brings more with it. We need that now. You'd be sick talking about it. We have to go out and make it happen." For a hurling power their recent record at this stage of the championship is a problem. But John O'Brien isn't keen on looking back. Time to seize the moment.