NCI Blog

Then and now: Assistant Professor of NCI's School of Business, Desmond Gibney with NCI graduate Eamon Breen in 2005 and 2025. We welcome the return of alumni to NCI, either to contribute their wisdom to the next generation of students, or to further their own professional and academic development through lifelong learning. In this blog, NCI graduate Eamon Breen details his experiences in the world of accounting since graduating in 2005, and the insights he wishes to share with the class of 2025.

When anyone asks me how I knew Eoin Fennessy, I usually say that we were in college together. That answer is technically true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. I first met Eoin in September 2003 among a group of students in my first-ever class when I started lecturing in National College of Ireland. Eoin was a brilliant student and deservedly won the special achievement award and the student of the year award at his graduation in 2004. I wouldn’t normally quote from a chant popularised by fans of Liverpool Football Club, being of a different allegiance myself. But there is a chant titled “We all dream of a team of Carraghers”, in tribute to Jamie Carragher. And in an Irish football context there is the chant of “A Team of Gary Breens”. Many times during my lecturing career in NCI, I wished I had a class full of Eoin Fennessys! “A Team of Fennos”!