Another Brolly blast for Gooch and Kerry

Joe Brolly has questioned Colm Cooper again and claimed the current Kerry team are at the end of a cycle, not the start.

The outspoken Gaelic football pundit, who believes Mayo’s time has arrived just as Donegal’s did last year, doesn’t believe seven-time All Star Cooper is cut out for the position of centre-forward.

He expects Dublin to win Sunday week’s All-Ireland semi-final, but claims their forward line is too selfish. But having last year criticised Cooper’s leadership qualities, Brolly’s latest comments about the Dr Crokes man are of most interest.

“Cooper at centre half-forward is good in the sense that it frees him from the restrictions of the full-forward line but the problem is he’s looking for easy ball around the half-back line.

“He’s not doing the primary role of a centre half-forward. If you look at a Brian McGuigan or Greg Blaney, players like that, they could also win the breaking ball, the hard yards. A centre-forward must do the hard yards and that’s just not the type of footballer Colm is. He’s looking for easy ball and it’s going to be very, very difficult for him.”

Comparing Cooper, above right, to his opposite number Ciaran Kilkenny on September 1, Brolly, above left, said: “He’s [Kilkenny] proper, he’s powerful and he’s a battler.

“Colm is peerless in terms of his skills but I’m on record as saying that I don’t believe he can lead a team in adversity and I’ve never seen him lead a team in adversity. There’s a huge burden on his shoulders and he’s not just that type of person.”

Speaking on FQfm digital radio station, Brolly said Kerry also have other problems in their forward line. “Paul Galvin’s engine is nowhere near where it was. He’s happy now to pick up a breaking ball in or around the half-back line and hand-pass it off, a wee nice kick-pass. The modern game, the wing-forward template, is Paul Flynn or Mark McHugh etc., workaholic flying machines who can play from box to box for 70 minutes.

“They don’t know how to use Kieran Donaghy. Are they going to kick the ball or are they not going to kick the ball? Because they’ve been so defensive it’s difficult for them to get the ball forward quickly. Declan O’Sullivan is not a natural corner-forward.”

He added: “James O’Donoghue looks very, very good but aside from that they have wholesale problems. Eamonn Fitzmaurice has clearly decided that he wants to play like Donegal and that’s been his template and you can see that.”

Brolly had some strong words for Dublin too: “The big issue for the Dubs is they’re selfish. Diarmuid Connolly, Bernard Brogan, for example, they want to get their own score and only if they can’t get their own score, if it becomes impossible, they’ll let it off in the spirit of ‘well then you have a go’.

“Dublin are not dependable but I still think they’ll have too much for Kerry. They’re too dynamic.”

nKerry are straight through to the Bord Gais Energy GAA Hurling All-Ireland U21 B Championship final on September 14 following Tyrone’s decision to withdraw ahead of Saturday’s semi-final. Kerry will play the winners of Kildare and Roscommon.