'It was a nice moment' - Ciaron Brown kept promise to four-year-old daughter with Northern Ireland goals
Ciaron Brown has revealed how his young daughter inspired him to score his first international goals for Northern Ireland last month.
Oxford defender Brown was the unlikely hero of Northern Ireland’s 3-0 win over Ukraine in Slovakia at the start of October – a result which helped them end the international window top of their Nations League group and eyeing promotion to the top tier.
Brown’s brace gave the 28-year-old his first international goals seven years after he made his debut – and fulfilled a promise made to his four-year-old daughter Oakley.
“I just gave her a call in the morning,” Brown said of a conversation they had on matchday. “Obviously it was a long camp and it feels like ages that you’ve been away from them, and that’s probably tough for her and it’s tough for me.
“So I just gave her a quick call and was mentioning that we had a game that night. And she was just like, ‘Oh daddy, can you score a goal for me?’. Obviously I’m never going to say no, even though I probably didn’t back myself to get a goal.
“I just said, ‘Yeah, of course I will, I definitely will, don’t worry about it.’ And then for it to actually happen, and to get two!
“I FaceTimed her afterwards and, well, she shouldn’t have been awake, but she was awake and was screaming down the phone, buzzing at the fact that I did it for her. It was a nice moment.”
Brown started all four of Northern Ireland’s games in the last window, helping them keep clean sheets in each to leave them as the only nation yet to concede in the competition so far.
His goals helped turn him into something of a cult hero among the Green and White Army, who were coming up with new songs about their ever-dependable defender, while a mocked-up image of him receiving the Ballon d’Or trophy did the rounds.
“I was back at the hotel and getting in the lift, and the gaffer’s in the lift as well,” Brown recalled. “He was just like, ‘Look, someone sent me this’ and it was my head cropped on holding the Ballon d’Or.
“And I thought, ‘You know what? I’ll take that if people are doing that’.”
Brown certainly deserves recognition as a player who has rarely put a foot wrong for Northern Ireland and moved up another level last month, with Michael O’Neill eager to tell anyone listening that he should be playing his club football at a higher level than League One.
“I don’t know about cult hero and stuff like that,” Brown said. “When I’m playing the game I just try to give everything and I find myself being maybe a bit of a leader on the pitch and trying to do the best I can.
“Whenever I cross the line I do the best I can possible for the team, whoever it’s for.
“I’ve had opportunities for Northern Ireland, but it was nice to get a run of games and with that run of games as a player, I feel like you build the confidence and it kind of raised the level.”