Leadership qualities come naturally to Stack

The first thing that comes to mind when Brian Stack struts his stuff on the field playing fields of County Roscommon and Ireland is leadership.

Plain and simple.

How many times, whether he’s plying his trade for club and county, has the St. Brigid’s tailsman done something to make him stand out from the crowd?

With Roscommon trying to desperately salvage a precarious situation against Cork last June, it was Stack that came out around the middle, making some spectacular catches to arrest the Rebels’ momentum and give his side some front-foot possession.

During St. Brigid’s recent semi-final against Clann na nGael, one of the abiding memories is of Stack taking control of the game for the next ten minutes after Ciarán Lennon had given Clann hope with an early two-pointer to leave just two points between the teams.

“It’s definitely something I’d be conscious of,” he revealed when asked about his leadership role at St. Brigid’s press night ahead of Sunday’s county final against Pádraig Pearses.

“It’s easy to try and sit back and hope that someone else does it. Our goal is to have 15 lads on the pitch that want to do something themselves. There’s no one looking sideways at someone else.

“You just have to recognise the moments, whether it’s a kickout — you just have to go and get it. You see with Pearses, if there’s kickout when they’re under the cosh, David Murray will always get a short one.

“I’d always be pretty confident about the mental side of things. If someone is going to make a mistake, I’d prefer it to be me than someone else. In those moments, I’ll always go looking for the ball or see what’s on.

“It’s not your instinct to say ‘I’m under pressure here’. The natural instinct is to hope that someone else takes on the responsibility. You just have to check yourself and decide I’m going to do this or do that, or whatever needs to be done at the time. It’s about getting yourself into positions to do something,” he explained.

Sometimes, Stack’s versatility is his greatest enemy, but he doesn’t view it through such a prism. He highlights that he was full-back on the first Roscommon minor team he ever played on. One year later, he lined out at centre-forward. It has always been the lie of the land.

On Sunday, he’ll do whatever he’s asked to the best of his ability, with an acceptance that improvement all over the pitch must be forthcoming.

“I wouldn’t have read into the first two games in the group (against Elphin and Western Gaels). We were through, and we probably took the foot off the gas against Glaveys. It was probably the wake-up call that we needed. We’ve showed flashes of what we can do in the last two games. I think we’ve yet to produce a complete performance. We’ve just done enough to win the games.

“We’d be very positive with how we played in the second half (against Clann na nGael). At half time, there were probably murmurs going around that we hadn’t enough scored. But we took control of the game, played to our strengths, and showed a bit of character and experience.

“Of course, there are takeaways, we had something like 30 shots and only scored 16 points. That’s not good enough by our standards,” he highlighted.

With three weeks between the semi-final and Sunday’s final, Stack is hoping that Brigid’s can get to the “pitch of the game” early, while he dismisses talk of his side being under huge pressure to deliver the club’s 19th county title.

“Anytime you play Pearses, there’s only going to be a point or two either way. They’ve been in three of the last six (finals) and we’ve been in two since 2020, so it’s a 50/50 game — it always is.

“We’re well used to the pressure. If you don’t win a championship here, it’s not viewed as a successful year. It’s the way you want it to be.

“I was the oldest player on the pitch starting the last day. That’s hard to believe but we’ve good experience on the bench and they’re constantly pushing us in training. We’ve All-Ireland medals on the bench. There’s great leadership among them but they’re looking to get minutes. They’re hungry,” he pointed out.

With another big game looming, what it means to the people of the Kiltoom and Cam parishes isn’t lost on Stack.

“I just find something special about this place. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I know all the people around here.

“It’s a great group to be around. Hopefully, we can celebrate together on Sunday night,” he concluded.