brolly was he a good footballer or even the 1st cousin of a footballer

[Mike Sheehy]

looks to me like your edit is still there Hardy...

[Sky Blue]

As I've said often; Brolly was excellent as a player. I'll say no more that that.

[Hardy]

I put it back Mike, just for the crack when I thought they were gone away like.

[heganboy]

I rate Brolly as a class act on and off the field. In company he doesn't know he can be a bit shyer than you'd expect, but mention the GAA and he's a different fella.
He had balls of steel if you ask me, some of the stunts he pulled, bouncing a ball through his markers legs, and behind his back...
He had the confidence to take the shot with the game on the line, and he converted a lot of them. He many times quoted the rule book at refs when questioning decisions, and to be fair to him was rarely wrong. I dont think Derry would have got the AI without him. Him and big Geoffrey playing was funny as Feck.

He was some basketball player in his day too- played for Ireland with Paul Mc Erlean of Antrim along with Mike Muldoon of Derry.

tbrick18- Cooper on a par with Canavan, you're a bit early with that one surely? Give him a few years then we can figure that out...

[ExiledGael]

tbrick18- Cooper on a par with Canavan, you're a bit early with that one surely? Give him a few years then we can figure that out...
[/quote]

Cooper has already played in a stack load of All-Ireland finals, won a few Sams and got a host of All-Stars, think it's fair to say he's on a par with Canavan in a different kind of way. ie Canavan was a leader, and drove Tyrone to two titles and one final, but Gooch is simply magic on his day and he's only a brat of a caddie yit.
Think us Northerners hold Peter the Great in almost too high of regard compared to others, that's not to undervalue him, happen to think he, Gooch, Mo Fitz and a few others are the outstanding players in living memory

[Pangurban]

A very good footballer, but inclined to go AWOL when he got a few slaps

[thebandit]

Joe is also the first cousin of a county footballer, was an accurate scoretaker but vulnerable to flatulent corner backs.

[Drumanee 1]

here a great story from 1 of the bellaghy lads who were on the derry panel with him,during a match he pulled out of a 50/50 ball and at half time coleman came in mad as a bull and got stuck into brolly about pulling out,brolly replied "of course i pulled out,if i got hurt who would put the ball over the bar".

[5 Sams]

I had to have a chuckle at his column in this morning's Gaelic Life...He said he was on holiday in Connemara and spoke about the sewerage being pumped directly into the sea at Clifden....he said his kids were not so much swimming in the Atlantic as going through the motions.

[tbrick18]

tbrick18- Cooper on a par with Canavan, you're a bit early with that one surely? Give him a few years then we can figure that out...

Cooper has already played in a stack load of All-Ireland finals, won a few Sams and got a host of All-Stars, think it's fair to say he's on a par with Canavan in a different kind of way. ie Canavan was a leader, and drove Tyrone to two titles and one final, but Gooch is simply magic on his day and he's only a brat of a caddie yit.
Think us Northerners hold Peter the Great in almost too high of regard compared to others, that's not to undervalue him, happen to think he, Gooch, Mo Fitz and a few others are the outstanding players in living memory
[/quote]

I agree totally with this comment. Good and all as Canavan was, I've seen games (only a few mind you) where he was marked out of it. Maybe only scored from a free. I've yet to see a game where Cooper hasnt scored from play and made at least a couple of scores for the team. Mo Fitz...class act too, but I always thought he retired too young.

[heganboy]

If comparing him to canavan was premature, comparing him to month fitz, is way way way too early.

[Rav67]

Brolly was fast and accurate but couldnt work with bad ball and was poor in the air, would definitely lag a good bit behind Paddy Bradley in my estiamtion.

Downey and Heaney were nowhere even close to being some of the best forwards in the country when Derry won in 93

[orangeman]

Brolly was an exception - the players he played with were very good in 93 but Brolly had flair - a Cantona / Best type player - very talented and completely audacious.