David Brady paid tribute to his old manager and former Mayo footballer Martin Carney for always writing to him before big games.
An emotional Brady was speaking exclusively to Off The Ball about his time in Gaelic football and the people who helped him in his career.
The proud Mayo man holds his former managers in high esteem and spoke about how they have impacted him in football and his life in general.
“Look, I was pretty adamant too that I talk about Hugh Lynn and I go up through my club manager Martin Sheridan. At U14 and U16 we won two county finals.
“They were great times. I had Martin Carney - brilliant. Absolutely phenomenal.
The former footballer has great admiration for people with a love of GAA and revealed that Carney, a former Mayo and Donegal inter-county player, use to write to him wishing him luck before big games.
“Every game we played afterwards - Martin would always write to you. Always. A note. Not every game but every important game. But every final definitely.
“You’d have a note from Martin Carney and family. The whole thing is, these people never forget. It still means something to them. I suppose for me, it will still mean something to me when I’m 60 or 70.
“I may be in the position to write to someone that I managed. You’d almost say it’s horses for courses. But you’re kind of going, they are good people,” Brady said.
'John definitely made a mistake'
While Brady is very grateful to John Maughan, he is adamant that his former manager made a mistake not starting him in the 2004 All-Ireland Football final.
The former Mayo footballer was speaking to Off The Ball about Mayo’s eight-point loss to Kerry in the 2004 final and believed his manager made a mistake and gambled with the game.
Brady started on the bench, with Maughan presumably hoping that he would add some firepower when he came on, but by the time he was introduced Kerry were out of sight.
While the Ballina native has forgiven Maughan, he is certain that his former manager was wrong not to start him.
“John Maughan was the first man that brought me onto the Mayo team. I’ll be forever indebted to him. Now love/hate? Look it, we’ll talk about it in.
“People make mistakes. I’ve probably made mistakes. But John definitely made a mistake. That’s the one thing that I’ll go back and say: You do not gamble with Mayo football,” Brady said.
While Brady suspects that he was supposed to fulfill the role of an impact sub, Maughan never told him exactly why he didn’t start.
“I knew it was a gamble. He didn’t have to answer to me. But sure the gamble didn’t work and we’ve gambled since,” Brady commented.
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