Brolly hails ‘inspirational’ Coleman

THE world of Gaelic games is in mourning following the death at 59 of Eamonn Coleman, who has gone down in history as the man who guided Derry to their only All-Ireland football success in 1993, against Cork.

A colourful and often controversial figure — fondly remembered by media people for his put-down ‘youse boys know nothing about football’ comment — he was controversially sacked by the County Board the following year. But, he returned to succeed Brian Mullins in 1999, taking the team to a second League title success the following year.

Former star Joe Brolly said that the Derry team had been ‘going nowhere’ prior to Coleman taking over. “We had a collection of very fine gaelic footballers. Each player, if you had seen them play for their clubs, was a marquee player but we weren’t going anywhere. He came in and brought in modern methods of training. He somehow communicated to us that we were winners,” he said.