All-Ireland in ‘95 was my sporting highlight: Brian Stynes

Former Dublin and Aussie Rules footballer, Brian Stynes, has described the All-Ireland SFC success of 1995 as "the highlight of his sporting career".

This year is the 25th anniversary of that victory, beating Tyrone by a point in the final, and Stynes joined Eamon Fennell on Wednesday night's The Hop Ball series (Episode 10) to look back at his eventful career with Dublin and Down Under with Melbourne and Port Melbourne.

He began though with the bizarre story of how what he hoped would be a dream two-week cruise around South America turned into a seven-week nightmare due to Covid-19 restrictions with regard to docking rights.

Eventually Stynes and his wife got to America where they flew to Sydney where they had to go into quarantine for 14 nights in one hotel room, being fed in their room three times a day, but not allowed to leave their room at any stage.

It was "a bit like a jail," Brian half-jokes at this remove.

However, Greater Melbourne, where Brian and his family live, is now in another lockdown and he doesn't not think he'll be home to Dublin for any 25th anniversary reunions later this year.

Stynes, a younger brother of the late, great Jim, followed in his sibling's footsteps firstly by representing Dublin at minor level and then heading to Australia to pursue a professional Aussie Rules career.

Jim won an All-Ireland MFC with Dublin in 1984, a team captained by current senior selector Paul Clarke before heading off to enjoy an legendary career with Melbourne.

Jim broke the record for most consecutive games of VFL/AFL football (244) and in 1991 was honoured with the sport's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal.

Brian, as a 16-year-old, was on the Dublin minor panel in 1988 - which included the likes of Dessie Farrell and Jim Gavin. They were beaten by Kerry in that year's All-Ireland MFC final (2-5 to 0-5) with Stynes scoring three points.

The Aussie Rules league had a scouting network and Stynes was one of 32 players invited to a three-day clinic in Portmarnock in the late autumn of 1988.

That November Brian and Roscommon's Tom Grehan were on their way to Melbourne after being recruited following their impressive displays and athletic marks at the clinic.

"It was a learning curve," says Brian, who was just set to enter Sixth Year in DLS Churchtown.

"My bro (Jim) was here (Melbourne) at the time but the first eight weeks (that) I was here he was back in Ireland on his holidays for Christmas.

"We didn't go back for Christmas, it wasn't like nowadays when you can fly back every five minutes.

"So that first stint was from that November (1988) til the following December (1989), so it was 14 months or so before I'd see my family again."

Stynes argues that the experience for a young Irish footballer going over now is entirely different to the welcome he and others at that time, back in the 1980s/90s would have received.

"Very, very different than what they get nowadays. Now everyone of them try to make the person fit in; from the club, the back-up they get, they have somebody chaperoning them, making sure they are okay and they are integrating.

"In our day it was sink or swim," says Brian.

Brian recounts his days under a particular U19 coach (who was also the Melbourne reserve team coach) who was not a believer in the 'Irish Experiment' feeling that it was robbing an Aussie kid of an opportunity.

"There was no love lost between the two of us. He was really hard on me and the other Irish guys who came," states Brian.

The change of training regime came as a shock to the system for a young Brian Stynes - a gruelling regime that included 15k mountain runs and track sessions of 100 by 100 metre sprints in pre-season camps.

The younger Stynes was to endure a frustrating few years in Oz owing to having to undergo seven operations in just four years and he played out his last year with Port Melbourne before returning to Dublin in early 1994.

Brian had flown over to Dublin twice in 1993 for interviews for the Fire Brigade Services during which time he had trained with the Dublin seniors, it was a situation that was to become more permanent the following year.

In very early 1994 his club, Ballyboden St Enda's, played Wicklow's Blessington in a challenge match attended by then Dublin selector Jim Brogan, uncle of Bernard and Alan, and the following week he was invited to join the Dublin seniors.

"I was only here (Dublin) a few weeks. I'd spent Christmas on Bondi Beach with my (to be) wife and I was training with a round ball for the first time.

"A few weeks later I've come home and it's freezing cold and next minute he (Dublin manager Pat O'Neill) calls me to come down and I did a training session and he goes 'right, you are a sub for the weekend against Kildare' (a NFL match in Newbridge).

"So I'm on the bench, I didn't even have a Dublin tracksuit, they gave me shorts and socks .... so I'd got a Melbourne trackstui on running up and down the sideline. I remember we were two points down and they said 'right; you're on' with 15 minutes to go or something and I ran on ... a 'baptism of fire'."

Dublin's next league game was against Down but Brian did not feature "I started on the bench and finished on the bench!"

He started against Derry, then All-Ireland champions, in their next outing on March 13 in Bellaghy as the Dubs won 0-15 to 2-6, before losing heavily to Armagh in the NFL quarter-final (2-13 to 1-9) in Breffni Park, Cavan.

Brian made his SFC debut when coming on as a sub in June 1994 versus Kildare in Croke Park when they Dubs recovered from a very slow start to eek out a draw (0-11 each) and win the replay (1-14 to 1-9).

Dublin won their third Leinster SFC in a row that summer before defeating Leitrim in their All-Ireland semi-final but losing the decider narrowly to Down (1-12 to 0-13).

1995 was to make up for the shortcomings and frustrations for the earlier part of that decade.

"It was fantastic '95, '94 we left it behind us, it was just terrible, just terrible the way we lost it. We should never had lost that final, it was terrible.

"But '95, ye the whole thing just came together. Fate had something to do with it as well that we did get over the line. All the stars had aligned that year to make it happen - very, very lucky to have been a part of it. The was the highlight of my sporting career."

Later that season Brian was to win a Dublin SFC with Ballyboden ... "it was an amazing year for me ... it was a fairytale for me."

Brian was to go on to play International Rules for Ireland against his legendary older brother Jim - "I'd a bit to prove to a few Australians that I was better than you (Aussies) though I was!"

In conclusion Brian talks about the best players he has played with.

"I did play an exhibition with Jack O'Shea and him and Brian Mullins were my childhood heroes.

"With the Dublin team, probably Paul Curran. There was some very good ones .. Keith Barr, Dessie Farrell."

Stynes picks out Ciarán Kilkenny as he favourite current Dublin footballer - "Just marvellous. One of a band of them."

Then Brian had a 'light bulb' moment and pays tribute to his former Dublin and Ballyboden St Enda's midfield partner Paul Bealin.

"One player I have to mention of he'll kill me. Paul Bealin was the best player I ever played with!"