Brolly: No pleasure in Cork ‘I told you so’

CONTROVERSIAL GAA pundit Joe Brolly says he takes no pleasure from Cork’s defeat to Mayo in Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final.

The Derry native came in for criticism in recent weeks following his own scathing comments made about Conor Counihan’s side.

In his Gaelic Life column, parts of which were reproduced in the Irish Examiner, he claimed Cork had a “primitive approach” and were a “dumb team”.

Brolly believes the latter was an unfortunate choice of words but he stands by his appraisal of Cork as a team who are unable to play to their potential by virtue of how they are organised.

“My point has always been that Cork have been playing at 60% of what they could be playing at,” said Brolly.

“I take no pleasure in Cork having exited the championship. Whenever I’m talking about Cork I’m not thinking that I’m talking about Limerick.

“You don’t patronise All-Ireland champions but you do look at them carefully. Cork fell over the line last year.

“This year was an opportunity for them to kick on. They had the raw materials. There were some pretty obvious tweaks to be made and problems to be solved. There comes a day when power and hard-running isn’t enough. There’s no such thing as an easy All-Ireland but they made it harder for themselves than it ought to have been.”

Brolly has been inundated with messages congratulating him on being proven right about Cork but he doesn’t feel that way.

After saying the All-Ireland champions would “wipe the floor” with Mayo on The Sunday Game the weekend before last, he knows he was wrong on at least one count. But he insists it was a case of when not if Cork’s shortcomings were going to be exposed.

“Thousands, and I mean thousands, have been texting, emailing and phoning to say that I’m right and I’ve been vindicated. That has got nothing to do with it. Cork were most definitely caught on the hop.

“The worst thing that could have happened was the early (Donncha O’Connor) penalty. I could feel it in the stadium, there was this sense of “ah, here we go again”.

“But Mayo aren’t Limerick. They weren’t going to coast through the game without pushing themselves. Mayo are a Division 1 team. They also packed their defence and played with a two-man full-forward line, which was effective and gave them a bit more room. There was less congestion for them going forward but when Cork attacked Mayo retreated en masse. Cork persisted with the man-to-man football and it didn’t work.

“I said last year that they were the purveyors of dumb football but that wasn’t a great phrase. What I meant was their strategy is basic. That it’s inflexible, off-the-cuff and man-to-man football that you either sink or swim with.”

Brolly is aware of how he has been painted among Cork people.

Last week Larry Tompkins suggested he might get “a poke” the next time he turns up in Cork. “I’ve become the panto villain with Cork people but after the game on Sunday I was introduced to a few Cork supporters by Tomás Mulcahy. Among them were Conor Counihan’s wife and his son. His son was emotional after the defeat and I tried to cheer him up. I said, ‘Imagine what it’s like to be me, a Derry person’. That made him smile.

“The reality is sometimes these things get blown out of proportion to make a lively debate but there’s that mutual respect that Gaels have for one another. There’s been some good fun between Tony Davis and myself because personalities are also involved. It had got to an extreme, though. My opinions are those of a committed armchair general!”

However, Brolly maintains he was right to question the credentials of Cork.

“I just don’t agree with the theory put forward by Pat Spillane that Cork were a tired team. He was making an excuse for not saying the obvious. My belief about Cork was strengthened last year when they beat Derry in a league game in Celtic Park last year.

“They murdered us with their sheer size and power but they only beat us by a point. It was then that I thought they had serious problems. Cork do many good things. They played with integrity, courage, honesty and they’re hard-working. They are a reflection on the character of their manager.

“But I’ve been saying for three years that Donncha O’Connor and Daniel Goulding have been under-utilised. A three-man full-forward line is one too many. There’s no space for the finishers.

“Goulding was a big loss to Cork. He may have been expected to score another three or four points, which would have likely seen them win the game. Cork also don’t have enough scorers from positions 5 to 9. Tyrone, in that area, scored 2-7 against Roscommon.’’

Brolly highlights how Tyrone on Saturday started man-to-man against Roscommon before realising that the opposition were more than they expected. As a result, they re-jigged, bringing in Brian Dooher to control around the back with wing-forward Peter Harte moving into a deeper position as a sweeper.

“It was game over with those modifications. If Cork had done that, deployed a sweeper they would have won. I’ve always seen Paul Kerrigan as a link man between defence and attack, a bit like Declan O’Sullivan is for Kerry.

“That’s where I see his great pace, strength and work-rate utilised best. Paul’s not a natural full-forward. If your natural instinct is to solo run you’re not a full forward. Donncha O’Connor is a natural full-forward.

“Eoin Cadogan could be a good sweeper as could Michael Shields but Cork couldn’t keep affording to go man-to-man. Do that against the likes of Michael Murphy or Colm Cooper and you’re going to lose.”

Brolly’s adamant if it wasn’t Mayo, another of the other remaining four teams would have beaten Cork at some stage this year. But he believes Cork can come back a better side next year if they embrace the sweeping/blanket defence.

“It’s all common sense. The more men you have behind the ball the more difficult you make it for the opposition to get through.

“With a few minor modifications, Cork would be a much better team. Whenever that happens they’ll turn from a potentially great team into a great team.”