GAA chief Aoghán Ó Fearghail hits out at Joe Brolly for ‘nasty’ attack

GAA President Aoghán Ó Fearghail has taken under-fire pundit Joe Brolly to task over his criticism of Cavan, claiming it was ‘upsetting’ and ‘nasty’.

Cavan native Ó Fearghail didn’t mention Brolly by name, but was clearly referring to the Sunday Game analyst, who was yesterday given a public dressing down by his employers, RTÉ. It follows Brolly’s claim after Cavan’s Ulster championship defeat to Monaghan that their style of play was “as ugly as Marty Morrissey”.

Earlier, at the launch of Newstalk radio’s championship coverage, newly-installed president Ó Fearghail criticised Brolly’s remarks, particularly his description of Cavan’s style of play as ‘ugly’.

“Certainly, the players in Cavan and the administrators in Cavan try to promote a game and having it described as ugly and all of that, that’s upsetting and that’s nasty,” said Ó Fearghail. “I think the media does need to be objective, properly objective and see when things are good, and if things need to be criticised then, absolutely, have a go.”

Former Mayo football manager James Horan attended yesterday’s launch and agreed that criticism of the game was “way over the top”.

“If you take the main games that have been shown this year, the ones that were televised, Tyrone and Donegal and Cavan versus Monaghan last weekend, I thought they were fascinating games, very good games played by two very good teams with a lot of skilful players,” said Horan.

“There was everything in them. There were battles, there were hard hits, there were great scores, everything. If you take those games on their own, even, I think it’s been a great start to the championship.

“What I sometimes struggled with is that you see these matches, you watch the games yourself and then sometimes you look at what the analysis is and what some of the media say and, for me, there is an imbalance sometimes in that. There might be one negative or two negative things in the game and that’s all that’s focused on in general commentary.”

Horan said negative analysis wasn’t a big problem when he was in charge of Mayo, but admitted that he feels for northern sides who are regularly put under an intense spotlight.

“There’s always been a lot of focus on northern football, particularly, from Tyrone in the noughties right through to Donegal,” he said. “Some of it is unwarranted, some of it is fair. Now, some of the games have been horrible to watch, but I think, on the whole, there’s been a lot more good games than bad games. If you read the paper, that’s not reflected all the time.”

Horan will work as a radio pundit this summer, having been involved in the last four championships with Mayo. The two-time All-Ireland final boss said he sees himself returning to management at some stage.

“Ah, I probably see myself at some stage, yeah,” he said.

Asked, however, if he could see himself managing against his former Mayo players, he shook his head.

“I just couldn’t see that, at the moment; no, it’s not something I’ve considered or would consider.”