‘I’m glad to be back’ says Brigid's 'prodigal son' Fallon
By Kevin Egan
Ruaidhrí Fallon, like all bar a couple of his St Brigid’s colleagues, wasn’t born when the famous House of Pain hit 'Jump Around' was released in 1992. Boyle midfielder Roch Hanmore would probably have been a bit young to have thought about the lyrics.
But these words - “Just like a prodigal son, I’ve returned. Anyone stepping on me, you’ll get burned” - could easily have been written for one of the first, defining moments of last Sunday’s county final.
Boyle had held onto possession for two minutes, and Hanmore had possession in the right corner of the attack. Fallon arrived decisively and aggressively, knocking the ball out of the Boyle midfielder’s possession and forcing the game’s first turnover. A furtive glance over to Aaron Clogher confirmed that the referee was happy with the challenge, and that was to be the first of three turnovers that Fallon would win in the opening quarter.
St Brigid’s prodigal son had returned, and anyone stepping into him was getting burned.
“Any time a ref doesn’t want to be too keen to blow the whistle I’ll be happy enough around the middle of the park!” Fallon told the Westmeath Independent after the game.
“It makes it a better spectacle for everyone to watch when there’s collisions flying in. There were two extremely honest groups of lads out there in the two middle eights. We were going to have a lot of 50/50s and lads going hard for balls, but that’s what everyone wants to see. It’s a good way to judge who’s ready for it.”
Fallon is no shrinking violet absolutely, but he’s not a particularly imposing physical specimen either – until the whistle is blown, and he begins to wreak havoc with his incredible strength and power.
After two years away playing rugby, he was playing like a man who wanted to make up for lost time.
“I feel I’m well and truly back and into the football swing of things now. I’m glad to be back, very happy to wear the green and red of St Brigid’s and to represent my parish, my family, and I haven’t been as happy as this on a pitch for a long time. Hopefully as time goes on I can represent Roscommon as well and keep driving it on.
“There’s a good group of lads here and there’s nothing we want more than to make it two next year, then three and so on. We want to make sure that the Fahey Cup comes back to St Brigid’s as often as possible,” he said.
When he burst onto the scene in 2020, winning a county title just short of his 18th birthday, he was part of a celebrated generation of young St. Brigid’s footballers that had won Roscommon and Connacht titles at minor level, so it was a group that was expected to dominate for a long time to come.
Did that lead to pressure, in his view? “I wouldn’t say there was extra pressure to deliver or anything like that. There’s always serious backing and support from the club and it’s down to us always, as individuals and as a team, to prepare ourselves mentally and not worry about things outside the pitch, or what people are saying. I can’t speak too much about the last two years, but this year, winning was the only option for us,” said Fallon.