Joe Brolly

[twohands!!!]

Is he maligned? It's one person on here and Joe Brolly who are throwing this nonsense at him, hardly a full scale assault. I'm sure he'll not lose too much sleep over this.

Anyone beginning to think that il bomber destro might actually be the bould Joseph B?

It's the kind of thing that strikes me might well amuse Brolly.

[Darby]

Off the top of my head, big games he has failed in:

Tyrone 03, 05, 08 and 15: Did not play well in 03, not bad in 15. Was Kerry's best player in 05 and 08 finals. In 05 he scored 0-5 and set up a goal. In 2008 he scored 0-6 (0-3 from play)
Dublin 15: Played terrible
Armagh 02 and 06: Played bad in 02 and in 06 he was only average, largely due to a lost season following his father's passing.
Derry 04: Best player on the field, scintillating. Scored 0-6, 0-5 from play.
Monaghan 07 and 08: Poor in 08. Very good in 07.
Cork 09: Played well. Scored 6 frees.
Down 10: By far Kerry's best player. Scored 0-7, 0-2 from play.
Donegal 12: Average

Poorish examples to be honest as I've highlighted above. I know you'll ignore though.

Cooper only scored three from play against Derry in 04 and was outscored in that particular area by both Paddy Bradley and Enda Muldoon who were feeding on scraps.

Only 0-3 from play? Okay then, he didn't have a great game I suppose then. Especially seeing as Bradley and Muldoon outscored him. Safe to say he had a really, really bad game then.

Cooper should be judged under different standards to others. He's the guy who we are told us the greatest forward of his generation. There are a good 6 or 7 forwards playing in Ulster alone in his era I'd have ahead of him.

He is the greatest forward of his generation. Greatest forward I've seen. He played very well in a lot of the games you're peddling as bad performances. He was surrounded by great Kerry players in a lot of those matches, and still stood out as their best player in a lot of them. You're saying he's not even a great footballer. You think Donaghy's great. You know very little about football.

Great forwards do it when it really, really matters. Donaghy generally did it when they needed him, look at how he won them an All Ireland last year. Cooper just collapses when the pressure come round.

A great flat track bully but not a great player.

And as I've proven a few posts back, he has delivered in the games when the pressure comes around. Most of the games you cited as backups to what you say were games that he scored five or six points. Donaghy? An absolute pig's arse of a player.

Actual big games where Cooper didn't play well (unlike your hilariously inaccurate list)

02 v Armagh, 03 v Tyrone, 06 v Armagh (he is well known to have struggled in 06 following his father's death), 08 v Monaghan, 12 v Donegal, 15 v Dublin. 6 games in 14 seasons. Not all that bad at all.

[Asal Mor]

I was at the 2010 game v Down and it was that game more than any other that convinced me that Gooch was the best I've seen. Perfect shooting from outrageous angles and two of the greatest passes you'd ever see to put Donaghy in 1-on-1 with the keeper(keeper saved both times). That game was actually a perfect example of how good Gooch is under the toughest pressure.

[Il Bomber Destro]

I was at the 2010 game v Down and it was that game more than any other that convinced me that Gooch was the best I've seen. Perfect shooting from outrageous angles and two of the greatest passes you'd ever see to put Donaghy in 1-on-1 with the keeper(keeper saved both times). That game was actually a perfect example of how good Gooch is under the toughest pressure.

You have very low standards, Damien Rafferty had him in his pocket. Poland must be an all time great if you consider Gooch a great off the back of that medicocre display. If anything that game showed how rudderless Kerry were at that particular time without the O'Se brothers. It was also a game that Down won comfortably so I don't know how you can say Gooch performed under the toughest of pressure.

Some of you are rewriting history in order to soften the blow of you being hoodwinked by the media into worshiping a false God.

[Zulu]

I have to hand it to you Bomber, you've listed games where the Gooch underperformed only for posters to prove he, in fact, did perform in many of those games, then you've listed games where other players (mainly from Ulster I note) did perform only for posters to come on a prove they, in fact, didn't perform, at least not by the standards you're holding Cooper to. And yet you still come on here and stick to your guns. Well I can only hope that for your own mental wellbeing and the mental wellbeing of those who encounter you daily that your on the wind up as AZ suggests. I presume you are as anyone simply giving a view on Cooper would have left this on we'll agree to disagree basis.

[Il Bomber Destro]

I have to hand it to you Bomber, you've listed games where the Gooch underperformed only for posters to prove he, in fact, did perform in many of those games, then you've listed games where other players (mainly from Ulster I note) did perform only for posters to come on a prove they, in fact, didn't perform, at least not by the standards you're holding Cooper to. And yet you still come on here and stick to your guns. Well I can only hope that for your own mental wellbeing and the mental wellbeing of those who encounter you daily that your on the wind up as AZ suggests. I presume you are as anyone simply giving a view on Cooper would have left this on we'll agree to disagree basis.

You have a very low parameter for a great player if he performed in those games by your criteria.

Dessie Mone held Cooper to a point from play in two Championship games in 07 and 08.

Paddy Bradley took Mone for 2-06 from play in 2009 in Championship football and Bradley was pretty much a on man team who wasn't surrounded by top players.

[imtommygunn]

Are you Paddy Bradley? That might explain it.

[Il Bomber Destro]

Are you Paddy Bradley? That might explain it.

I'd be a bit embarrassed if I'd been mugged off and fully bought into the cult of Gooch too.

[kerry_opinion]

Are you Paddy Bradley? That might explain it.

He is a big Francesco Totti fan as well. He seems to have a thing for star players in underperforming teams which probably explains his bitterness towards the Gooch.

[Applesisapples]

Is there any further point to this thread? Anyone who denies that Gooch was not a first class player knows little about the sport he is commenting on.

[lenny]

Is there any further point to this thread? Anyone who denies that Gooch was not a first class player knows little about the sport he is commenting on.

Agreed, let's get back to talking about brolly.

[JoG2]

Is there any further point to this thread? Anyone who denies that Gooch was not a first class player knows little about the sport he is commenting on.

Agreed, let's get back to talking about brolly.

boys are talking to Brolly, about the Gooch ;-)

[kerry_opinion]

Is there any further point to this thread? Anyone who denies that Gooch was not a first class player knows little about the sport he is commenting on.

Agreed, let's get back to talking about brolly.

boys are talking to Brolly, about the Gooch ;-)

Indeed. The hero worship of a Derry man (Paddy Bradley) by a "Tyrone" man is another dead giveaway

Cmon Joe, just reveal yourself and be done with it 

[ose 14]

joe knows more about camogie than he does about the big ball

[Line Ball]

Joe Brolly: Players arrive in their tracksuits wearing headphones, play the game, then go home - How dull!

After winning the Cork senior hurling final last Sunday, the Glen Rovers clubhouse had the atmosphere of Russian Cossacks carousing after slaughtering a battalion of the French.

The last time I was there, it was a Friday evening some years ago and the place was jammed.

Tomás Mulcahy said, "We'll have one pint Joe."

"Ah go on ahead," I said. I woke up on Monday morning. Ever heard 300 men singing 'Come Out Ye Black and Tans'?

No celebration can compare to the winners' clubhouse after a county final. Yet even this is becoming an endangered species. There was a time when a good knees-up was par for the course after every championship game. Now, after all the other rounds, the players immerse themselves in ice baths and drink energy brews.

The fact they are as effective as urine is neither here nor there. They are a symbol that the game must be treated with the utmost gravity.

So, players often don't even use the changing room to shower anymore. They arrive in their tracksuits wearing headphones, play the game, then go home. How dull. And how unnecessary.

The morning after Edendork's triumph in the Tyrone intermediate football final a fortnight ago, I bumped into one of the players outside the court in Dungannon.

"Can you run me up to the Square Bar, Joe? I'm too drunk to drive."

Which reminds me of a yarn about a chap leaving Kavanagh's at the bottom of the Malahide Road one night after a championship match in the 1970s. As he staggered towards the door, he said, "Thank God I've the car. I'm so drunk I'd never make it up that hill."

The Edendork boys had been drinking in the clubhouse until the c**k crowed. At 11 next morning, they resumed in the Square Bar, Dungannon. Darren McCurry, aka 'The Dazzler' (a name he himself chose), was in attendance.

There are only a handful of people entitled to talk about themselves in the third person. These are Floyd Mayweather, Tyrone country and western singer Hugo Duncan, and the reigning heavyweight champion of the world. I bumped into Hugo once at a wake. He has that happy bearing of the character in Not the Nine O'Clock News who challenged random people he met to, "Punch me in the stomach, Go on, punch me in the stomach."

I said to Hugo, "How are you?"

"Hugo's doing great Joe, he's absolutely flying."

"I thought you were Hugo," I said.

He looked at me puzzled, and said "I am."

The Dazzler is a teetotaller, so at his request, the cup was filled with Fanta. No sooner had he had his sip, than it was dumped into the sink and replenished with fire-water.

When we won the All-Ireland, we arrived in Dungiven about the Tuesday. The clubhouse was thronged. At around midnight, Joe O'Neill, philosopher and owner of Joe's Bar on the Main Street, led us down the street to his west bank establishment.

When he reached the front door, he flung it open melodramatically and said, "Gentlemen. Welcome to reality." We were still there at dawn.

I remember one night not long ago after the current generation won a Derry senior hurling championship, they ran out of coal in the pub in the early hours, so the boys burned their tracksuits.

Sadly, Joe's refined sensibilities were not shared by the authorities. And so, as was inevitable, it all came to an end one fateful morning in Limavady Magistrates Court. Thankfully, the proceedings were recorded for posterity in the pages of The Mid Ulster Observer.

Prosecutor: Officer, can you tell His Worship where you went on the morning of the 7th?

Policeman: I went with a colleague to Joe's Bar on the Main Street in Dungiven.

Prosecutor: Why did you go there?

Policeman: There had been a Gaelic football match the previous day and we had reason to believe there may be late drinking going on.

Prosecutor: At what time did you enter the premises?

Policeman: Can I consult my notes Your Worship?

Judge: Did you make them at the time?

Policeman: I did Your Worship.

Judge: Yes, you may.

Policeman: We entered the establishment by the rear door, which was open, at half-past seven in the morning.

Prosecutor: Can you describe what happened?

Policeman: There were roughly a dozen people in the lounge. As we entered, I saw a gentleman sitting alone at a table close to the door, who appeared to be drinking a pint of Guinness. I asked him, 'What are you drinking sir?'

Prosecutor: And did he reply?

Policeman: He did Your Worship (consults notebook). He said, 'Thanks lads, but I'm happy enough on my own. You work away yourselves.'

Memories, memories . . .

There is always a worry about lads overdoing it, especially at this time of the year when club championships are reaching their climaxes and boys

who've been living like monks suddenly let rip. This problem of work/play balance is a chronic one in the GAA.

No wonder lads go crazy at this time of year.

They would be more careful had they ever heard Professor Jack Crane, the Northern Ireland state pathologist, giving evidence to juries about the effect of heavy alcohol intake on already dehydrated brains. This combination is very dangerous, causing the brain to swell into the skull cavity and the central nervous system to malfunction. A good trick is to drink a glass of water for every glass of alcohol.

I was reading the pen pics in the programme for the Joe Brolly Cup last weekend, which is the Derry junior football championship cup, named after my grandfather, a most fascinating man. Drum, where there are no ice baths, were playing Faughanvale. The printer obviously hadn't read the stuff sent in by the Drum lads.

Niall Farren, grinning broadly in his pic, described his best career moment as, 'The time I headbutted Conor in his stupid face'. One of the Moore boys gave his occupation as 'Taxidermist'.

My favourite though, was Niall Ferris's entry, whose biggest career influence was Chuck Norris. Now there's a man entitled to talk about himself in the third person.