Twelve seasons in green: Aidan Breen calls time on his Fermanagh career

Tempo man Aidan Breen talks to Katrina Brennan about his time with the Erne County, following his intercounty retirement.

IT’S a New Year in more ways than one for Tempo man Aidan Breen.

A seasoned campaigner with Fermanagh at minor, under 21 and senior level for 16 of his 32 years, he now looks ahead to a time where he will only don the maroon and white of beloved Tempo.

The talented Erne man slips away with a commendable 120 appearances for the Erne County and is safe in the knowledge he gave everything to the cause.

It’s a retirement that had been bubbling under the surface for some time and after ‘hemming and hawing’ about it last year, Breen admits 2024 was always going to be it – the line in the sand – for the the 32-year-old electrician.

“The final call was made about 12 months ago. I knew last year was going to be my last season,” he said.

“It was taxing. I’d be up in Armagh and Belfast with work and you’d be coming home, and it was just very hard getting the time.

“You were coming home and rushing in the evenings, it was grand when I was living at home and mummy was doing everything for me but then when me and Courteney (fiancé) moved in together, it’s different when you’ve a house to look after and your priorities change,” he said.

In May, Aidan and Courteney (Murphy), a Fermanagh senior ladies player, plan to get married and life is just taking a different direction for Breen now.

But his service to the county hasn’t completely finished either.

Last October, former Fermanagh goalkeeper Pat Cadden was announced as the new Erne minor manager and in the backroom team is none other than Breen and another Erne stalwart, Seán Quigley.

Getting involved with the underage structures is something that is relatively familiar to the Tempo man though, having taken underage teams with his club previously.

“To me they (Pat and Sean) are both very smart footballers and I just decided if I was going to get involved at some time, getting involved with two boys like that, to learn stuff and bring back to underage in Tempo.

“Also, (it allows you to) see it from a different side. You probably have a bit more respect for some of the calls they have to make. It’s not all plain sailing,” he added.

The Fermanagh Years

The road to now has been far from ‘plain sailing’ for Breen who made his senior debut in the 2013 Dr. McKenna Cup, as a 20-year-old, against St Mary’s under the stewardship of Peter Canavan.

He remembers that baptism of fire like it was yesterday;

“I came on for the last 25 minutes and I just remember after about three or four minutes I was absolutely ‘blown’. I was thinking ‘how are boys able to play full games at this?’” he laughed.

After watching on in the formative years, including during Fermanagh’s run to the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2015 where they lost to Dublin in Croke Park, Breen soon forged his way onto the team and became a mainstay. By 2018 he was starting against Donegal in an Ulster Final.

Losing that decider was a tough one to take, he recalled.

“We had put a serious amount of work into that year. It was the biggest load that we’d ever done and we felt we were going somewhere and then we were hammered in the final and I remember thinking in the weeks after it – we put everything into it and were still that far away.

“You were questioning yourself after it; how far away are we? Will we ever get there? Because that was always the goal, to win a trophy with Fermanagh, I wasn’t just happy to be there, I wanted to win something.”

In his career there’s been highs and lows and he’s been privileged to play with and against some great players.

When he joined two-time All-Star Bary Owens and 2004 All-Star Marty McGrath were both still involved, and he also had the pleasure of playing alongside Seán Quigley for many years, but Breen points to Coa man, Eoin Donnelly, as being the best there was during his time.

“His leadership was phenomenal. He was just all about the team. When we were struggling he would go up and fetch the ball and drag the whole team up the field. He could always lift the whole team and lift the standards.”

In terms of tough opponents, Lee Keegan from Mayo was the best player he every encountered on the field.

Indeed, pushing eventual All Ireland finalists Mayo all the way in the 2016 qualifiers was one of the moments Breen reflects on bitter-sweetly. The Tempo man kicked three points from play that day in Castlebar but they were ultimately beaten 2-14 to 2-12.

“It just always seemed to be the way with us, we were pushing – there were a couple of decent results but we couldn’t sustain it, unfortunately.”

While Breen has no silverware to boast for his time involved, only some hard luck stories of league final defeats in 2015, 2017 and 2023, he looks back on his time with great fondness;

“It’s been very enjoyable, challenging too, but I’ve brilliant memories. I’ve learnt a lot along the way and made some good friends. It just would’ve been nice to get some silverware because that was always the goal.”

For now though, thoughts of his first ever pre-season with Tempo seniors is imminent, something that has eluded him until now due to his county involvement.

His father James boasts three senior championship medals with the famous Tempo team of the 70s, and his family is steeped in the GAA with his brother Hugh a well known referee on the Fermanagh GAA circuit too.

After 12 years, Aidan will be on the outside looking in this season as Kieran Donnelly’s charges bid to bounce back from relegation to Division Three and overcome Down in an Ulster quarter-final.

Chasing that elusive Anglo Celt is something that Breen is all too familiar with but he feels it’s not beyond the team despite stiff opposition in Ulster;

“The last two results in Ulster don’t bode well but I still think that there’s a good nucleus of players there. A lot of them boys have won, I know it’s only schools’ football, but they’ve won Hogan Cups, a couple of boys have won Sigersons, so there is a winning mentality there and the way that the Ulster Championship is – it’s straight knockout… three knockout games – anything is possible!”