Breen wants to ‘finish the job’ in promotion bid

By Katrina Brennan

TEMPO man Aidan Breen is playing in his 11th season in the green and white and is still making a huge impact. On Sunday, he made his 46 minutes on the field count, notching an all-important 1-2 in Fermanagh’s victory over Tipperary.

In the last three league games, Breen has got on the scoresheet, kicking a point against Down, three against Antrim and on Sunday he got the second of Fermanagh’s goals and chipped in with two superb points from play.

When asked if he is happy with how he’s been playing, he said:

“Happy enough. (Sean) Quigley told me there a couple of weeks ago, my county career was over, so I’m trying to rival him at the minute,” he laughed.

Breen has started the last three games and he’s been important for Kieran Donnelly’s team. Now the challenge is to push on.

“We’ve left ourselves in a good position. It’s a massive game in two weeks against Westmeath,” said the 30-year-old electrician.

“The last time we were in this position we went down to Offaly and we weren’t happy with our performance and a few years before that, against Armagh we were in a similar position and we slipped up. So this time we really want to finish the job. We’ve left ourselves in a good position and it’s all about getting over the line.”

Fermanagh’s real plus point this season has been their strength in depth. The bench has played a massive part in putting the Erne men in the promotion push. Breen played a few minutes against Longford in the first game, didn’t feature against Offaly but started in every game since, says the fight for places is a positive.

“It’s very competitive this season in the squad and it probably drives you on that bit more, that bit of competitive edge. There’s a great environment there and there’s always a bit of craic and slagging about, it’s a good place to be.”

Now, the biggest game of the season looms, against Westmeath on March 18, and Breen is in a positive frame of mind.

“The games are just getting bigger but that’s where you want to be as an inter-county footballer, you want to be playing in the big games. You want to be coming to Ederney, home crowd at your back. It’s a great position to be in but unfortunately it’s no good now if we don’t finish the job out.”