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Irish Daily Mirror
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Brolly slams Cusack over 'most grotesque thing' after All-Ireland final loss
Joe Brolly has taken aim at Dónal Óg Cusack over the Cork players' strikes, saying they were "the most grotesque thing I've ever seen in my life as a GAA person". The former Derry player was reacting to the Rebels' shock All-Ireland final loss to Tipperary over the weekend when he brought up the strikes during the early 2000s. The first of the strikes in 2002 was over player welfare and rights, with manager Bertie Óg Murphy stepping down as a result, while in 2009, Gerald McCarthy stepped down as manager. Brolly, now based in Mayo, claimed there is a big difference between the Westerners' shortcomings in All-Ireland finals and what happened to Cork on Sunday. He said on his Free State Podcast: "This is different. This is carnage. This is a f***ing wasteland of dreams. The first thing the Cork players will be saying this morning, I think, will be... it will take them a while to come out of the numbness and genuine f***ing horror of this... will be what the f*** were our management doing? "So now you've got this dynamic of 'can we trust this management, is this management at the level that is required for us' and that of course is the road to disaster as well." Brolly went on to say that the Rebels 'have never recovered' from the strikes many years ago as he took aim at Cusack. "They were a team that were renowned as the Rebels throughout Ireland, they had given us some of the greatest hurlers that had ever played the game, they had great football teams and then all of a sudden they became like a trade union," he added. "Dónal Óg, the senior sort of trade union chair, shuttling in and out of meetings with the GAA." Dónal Óg Cusack (Image: ©INPHO/Oisin Keniry) He continued: "You'll recall the strike, which was just the most grotesque thing I've ever seen in my life as a GAA person, as a GAA volunteer. "So they reaped the devastation of that and the great Seán Óg (Ó hAilpín) has since spoken about his disappointment in himself that he went along with it. "So they got over that, they got through that very, very recently and now they've got this team playing like a Cork team and they've got everything going for them. "They've no individual weaknesses, brilliant free taker, I mean even their free taker ultimately melted down. Missed an easy free at the start of the second half that would have put them seven up. Where do they go from here?" Cusack previously told how he had no regrets over the strike in 2009, telling the Irish Examiner: "Gerald was doing his best - he wanted to do his best. 'He was a great Cork player, but we felt there was better management propositions out there. 'When it was becoming pretty apparent what was ahead of us, myself and John (Gardiner) said we need to go and talk to Gerald face-to-face and tell him what was going on. So, we told him the story, told him that the players didn't have confidence in him. 'Gerald made it clear to us that night that he wasn't going anywhere. 'We went back to our players and said, 'This is the choice that we have. What do you want to do?' 'I think it was unanimous that the players would go on strike. 'I regret anybody got hurt in it. I regret Gerald had to be in the position he had to be in, because the fight was between the players and the board, yet the board knew exactly what they were doing. 'But in terms of regretting what we did? The only regret I have is that we didn't give them half enough of it, that when we had our foot on their chests that we should have went all the ways." However, Ó hAilpín admitted in 2020 that he did have regrets over the strikes. "When I start looking in reflection, that is one thing I do regret, the casualties and the fact that people had to step down," he told The Sunday Game. "After that, the players got the demands that they were looking for. I don't think that strike would have been so highlighted if we didn't win; if we didn't back that up with the '04 and '05 wins, we would have been the laughing stock of the nation. At least those actions were justified. "It was bad enough going through one, then there was another one in 2007, which involved the hurlers and footballers. Life would have been much easier if we'd stopped at that. "Then, there was the worst one which was in '09. Probably, that's the one where there's still aftermath to this day. The biggest casualty out of that was Gerald McCarthy - probably one of, if not the greatest Cork great, having to step down." He added: "There's not a day goes by when I don't think back to then and what could have been done differently. "There's certain actions that in hindsight... I can't speak for other players at that time but I know that I would have said some stuff that in proper reflection that I was best to just keep my mouth shut. "My view is that you had one party, the playing group, who were looking to go one way, and you soon realise that the biggest power broker in that situation is the county board. They didn't want to go that way with us. They had their own ways about how the association should be run. "We were just going two poles apart completely. When you have two camps entrenched in their own beliefs, it was only going to lead to ringside tickets in Las Vegas. The aftermath was filthy, callous and cold."
Irish Daily Mirror
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Joe Brolly responds after Jack O'Connor's fury over David Clifford comments
Joe Brolly was in Jack O'Connor's firing line after Kerry's hugely impressive All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Armagh. The Kingdom ran out winners by 0-32 to 1-21 against the reigning All-Ireland champions after a dominant second-half performance at Croke Park. They will now face Tyrone in the last four of the Championship. After Sunday's game, O'Connor hit out at critics of his side, accusing ex-Kerry players turned pundits of 'lacking loyalty to the team. The Kingdom manager also referenced Brolly's Sunday Independent column from the morning of the game, which had the headline: 'Joe Brolly: David Clifford is the only Kerry footballer worthy of the name'. 'One of the great motivators in life is trying to prove people wrong. We were being portrayed as a one man team," said O'Connor. 'I saw somebody writing this morning that the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. David is a great player but David would tell you that there was a fair support cast out there today." Brolly responded to O'Connor's comments on his Free State Podcast, saying: "That was the headline put on the piece. But it was about that requirement for perfection in Kerry and how they look at everything through the prism of the greatest team of all - Spillane, Sheehy, Egan etc. "And that's why I started the piece with the definition of a Kerry inferiority complex. A man with two All-Irelands. "I rang my good friend Marc Ó Sé and I texted him. I said, look, will you beat Armagh. He said, 'not a hope Joe'." However, Brolly stated that he actually backed Kerry to beat Armagh before clarifying his comments on Clifford. He explained: "Clifford is going to, if he hasn't already, break all scoring records now. And I don't care what anybody says. "It's not fanciful to say that the difference between Kerry and the other teams, essentially, is that Kerry have got David Clifford. What do you do with him?" The former Sunday Game pundit added: "Nobody's suggesting, for example, that David Clifford should turn out on his own. It's a very, very skilled team. The Kerry team has, see what I wrote, excellent skills and excellent pedigree. They're a skilled team with excellent pedigree." Brolly also credited Jim Gavin for "releasing the game" through the new rules introduced this year. "The weekend for me, more than anything, exemplified the extraordinary achievement of Jim Gavin in releasing the game," stated Brolly. "I'm sure there must have been times that David Clifford thought to himself, like, 'Jesus, am I just going to have to wade through this sort of double, triple marking for the rest of my career? Boy, do I wish I was born during the Kerry-Golden Era'." Brolly believes if Kerry play like they did for their awesome spell in the second half of the Armagh game for the rest of the Championship, they will be lifting the Sam Maguire later this month. "It was an electrifying and satisfying second half from Kerry," said the All-Ireland winner. "You couldn't but be delighted watching it. "They had a virtually perfect spell of football for ten minutes. I mean, virtually perfect. And everyone was in the mood all of a sudden. Their tackling was pristine without fouling. "Their fetching in the middle of the field. For that ten minutes, they were sensational. And then, whenever you're dominating midfield, and you're getting the ball to David Clifford quickly, hello, goodbye. It's like the Roadrunner. "And that for Kerry poses the question now, that ten-minute spell which will be in their psyche now, is that who they are? Is that what this team is? Because if it is, they'll be the All-Ireland Champions."
Irish Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Joe Brolly takes aim at current GAA pundits and All-Ireland TV coverage
Joe Brolly launched an attack on current GAA pundits as he took aim at RTE and GAA+ over their coverage of this year's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. The All-Ireland winner spoke on the homogenous nature of GAA punditry at present after his departure from RTÉ's suite of pundits in 2019. "One of the features of the modern GAA pundit is that they all dress like boyband members now," he said on the latest episode of his Free State Podcast. "Before the Kerry game, Paddy Andrews, the famous Dublin footballer, Cillian O'Connor from Mayo, and Marc Ó Sé, Kerry, they looked like a Take That tribute band. "They don't make pundits like they used to, everyone agreeing with everybody else and talking about statistics." The conversation then moved on to RTÉ's soccer coverage and pundits, and when asked on their credentials by Free State co-host Dion Fanning, Brolly replied: "Those boys they have now are catatonically boring... personality is outlawed now." He lamented what he deemed to be an obsession with timings degrading the entertainment value of the show, wondering "Can you imagine Muhammad Ali now coming into RTÉ? "A runner would come in and say 'Muhammad Ali's outside here', 'lock the door, Jesus, we're on a schedule here, we have to ask Cora Staunton about this clip of Mayo scoring a free in the second half, and whether or not the free should have been given, there's a very important issue here, whether X could have got a black card.' "This sugary, cold banality, there's no resemblance to the GAA people." Brolly left RTÉ after the 2019 All-Ireland football final after 20 years in the Sunday Game studio. He was cut off on air during a 2021 episode of the Claire Byrne Show where Irish unification was being discussed. He claimed that RTÉ had "censored" him during the broadcast, saying: "I was taken off air on RTE for very mild comments that I made during a discussion about the potential for Irish unity. "I was talking about the importance of honestly assessing the past, honestly assessing for example on that occasion Gregory Campbell of the DUP and that essential honesty that was key to the peace process. "I was actually taken off air and to the best of our knowledge, we checked this, my legal team checked all of this, no one had ever been taken off air."
Irish Daily Mirror
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Joe Brolly on the hilarious welcome he received at a Mayo pub
Joe Brolly has given a glimpse into the hilarious welcome he received at a Mayo pub over the weekend. The Derryman has moved to the West of Ireland, where he lives in the Knockmore area with his wife and radio host Laurita Blewitt. Brolly is on the coaching team for Knockmore GAA and has seemingly left a big impression on the local community. The former RTE pundit went to O'Tooles pub in Tourmakeady to watch his beloved Derry take on Galway on Sunday. And Brolly was greeted by a hilarious series of signs that stated his claim to many objects in the pub. Brolly was recently bemoaning the Mayo footballers for ruining a multiple bet he had put on with a friend across a number of GAA matches over the course of a weekend. The All-Ireland winner explained on his Free State Podcast: "I'm the GAA guy. He's the horses guy, I don't know anything about horses. But I'm the GAA guy. "We're really careful with it. Built up a lovely kitty. It's a lovely kitty. So we're sitting with it. "I said, look, I am telling you every fibre of my being is screaming to me that Limerick hurlers are going to beat Cork. "I said 'I know this in the way that a man knows when he's in love that Limerick are going to beat the Cork hurlers'. "They're stinging from last year. This is one of the greatest dynasties that's ever been, never mind in hurling or f***ing Gaelic football or anything else. A truly exceptional, frightening, demolition job of a team that can play it whatever way you want to. And I said, they're going to beat Cork. Great odds. "And I said, why don't we pad it out? We'll fire in a few more certs. He said, 'we'll build it up'. "We brought the whole package up to 11/1 with Down footballers to beat Clare and that was a good one "Down footballers to beat Clare, which we had surprisingly good odds on, I think because it was in Clare. "Tipp to beat Waterford in the hurling. Tipp always beat Waterford in the hurling. "And then the fourth vote. I said, like, come on 'there's absolutely no way that Cavan can beat Mayo in MacHale Park in Mayo'. I said it to him and he said, 'even I know that and I don't know anything about football, but you're right'. "Tick the box. Off he went, he's the wee online thing with the bookies. 11/1 for the package. "And there they came rolling in. There they came rolling in. Down slaughtered Clare, Tipp beat Waterford. He said, 'fair play to you Brolly'. He said, 'Limerick are already sort of 1-3 to no score up against Cork'. "And then the word runs through from McHale Park. Cavan are stuffing Mayo. "Martin Carney, the great Martin Carney, the inimitable Martin Carney, one of the great people of the GAA apparently, he was raging after the match because the Mayo super fans are all out in the pitch getting the autographs of the players after being beat by Cavan. Like, f*** me. "He says, 'those people out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see them climbing the Himalayas naked waving a Mayo flag'. "Oh, bloody Mayo. We put two-thirds of the kitty on. Substantial kitty. This was a good kitty. A very, very good kitty. "The only risky one was Limerick and Cork. People would say I mean, come on, Limerick. I was so certain. That was the foundation of the bet. "That was the foundation. I didn't even tune in to Midwest Radio for the Mayo game, so certain was I. "To be fair, I love the Cavan boys. And I've always had a great grá for the Cavan clubs and the Cavan people. I was truly delighted for them."
Irish Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Joe Brolly tells of Mayo heartbreak after All-Ireland loss to Cavan
Cavan pulled of one of the surprises of the Championship so far last Sunday as they beat Mayo in Castlebar. Big outsiders in the betting for the game, the Breffni County produced a stunning display to shock Kevin McStay's side as they ran out winners by 1-17 to 1-14. It was their first championship victory over Mayo since the 1948 All-Ireland final. Raymond Galligan's men's win was all the more impressive as they were without talisman Gearoid McKiernan, who missed the game through injury, while midfielder Barry Donnelly and corner-forward Seán McEvoy both went off injured during the first half. But the result proved costly for Joe Brolly, who had backed Mayo to win on a multiple bet he had put on with a friend across a number of GAA matches over the course of the weekend. The All-Ireland winner explained on his Free State Podcast: "I'm the GAA guy. He's the horses guy, I don't know anything about horses. But I'm the GAA guy. "We're really careful with it. Built up a lovely kitty. It's a lovely kitty. So we're sitting with it. "I said, look, I am telling you every fibre of my being is screaming to me that Limerick hurlers are going to beat Cork. "I said 'I know this in the way that a man knows when he's in love that Limerick are going to beat the Cork hurlers'. "They're stinging from last year. This is one of the greatest dynasties that's ever been, never mind in hurling or f***ing Gaelic football or anything else. A truly exceptional, frightening, demolition job of a team that can play it whatever way you want to. And I said, they're going to beat Cork. Great odds. "And I said, why don't we pad it out? We'll fire in a few more certs. He said, 'we'll build it up'. "We brought the whole package up to 11/1 with Down footballers to beat Clare and that was a good one "Down footballers to beat Clare, which we had surprisingly good odds on, I think because it was in Clare. "Tipp to beat Waterford in the hurling. Tipp always beat Waterford in the hurling. "And then the fourth vote. I said, like, come on 'there's absolutely no way that Cavan can beat Mayo in MacHale Park in Mayo'. I said it to him and he said, 'even I know that and I don't know anything about football, but you're right'. "Tick the box. Off he went, he's the wee online thing with the bookies. 11/1 for the package. "And there they came rolling in. There they came rolling in. Down slaughtered Clare, Tipp beat Waterford. He said, 'fair play to you Brolly'. He said, 'Limerick are already sort of 1-3 to no score up against Cork'. "And then the word runs through from McHale Park. Cavan are stuffing Mayo. "Martin Carney, the great Martin Carney, the inimitable Martin Carney, one of the great people of the GAA apparently, he was raging after the match because the Mayo super fans are all out in the pitch getting the autographs of the players after being beat by Cavan. Like, f*** me. "He says, 'those people out there, I wouldn't be surprised to see them climbing the Himalayas naked waving a Mayo flag'. "Oh, bloody Mayo. We put two-thirds of the kitty on. Substantial kitty. This was a good kitty. A very, very good kitty. "The only risky one was Limerick and Cork. People would say I mean, come on, Limerick. I was so certain. That was the foundation of the bet. "That was the foundation. I didn't even tune in to Midwest Radio for the Mayo game, so certain was I. "To be fair, I love the Cavan boys. And I've always had a great grá for the Cavan clubs and the Cavan people. I was truly delighted for them."
