Controversial GAA pundit Joe Brolly championed the primitive and unspoiled nature of club football in the Sunday Independent today, by treating readers to a humorous tale about an incident which involved him tousling a goalkeeper's hair and nailing him with a cracking one-liner.
Brolly recalls a moment during a home game against Meath when an incoming ball evaded the grip of Darren Fay which in turn, presented Brolly with an opportunity to be cheeky.
Joe Brolly never fails on the Sunday game... 😂 #DUBvMAY https://t.co/eF0YVAxjeO
— Aisling McHugh✨ (@Just_Ash_Ling) August 30, 2015
'Darren Fay missed it and I was through on goal. As the big keeper advanced, I lobbed him. I recalled he had been interviewed by RTE after beating Dublin in a championship match and said, "that was better than sex." So, as he sat on his arse in Celtic Park, I leaned in, tousled his hair and asked: 'Was that better than sex?' Then I wheeled away, blowing kisses to the delighted home crowd. At which point, Colm Coyle booted me in the thigh, bringing an abrupt end to the celebration. As I was limping off (I needed 11 stitches) Derry manager Brian Mullins shook his head and said, 'You deserved that you little bollocks.' He was right. And I had no complaints.'
Joe Brolly #Derry receives #GAA Personality of the Month Award for April 1996 #nostalgia pic.twitter.com/As1fhx40TR
— GAA Nostalgia (@gaanostalgia) October 2, 2015
Throughout Brolly's piece, he reiterates how modern day club football is blessed with unfurnished passion and even reminds him of the intense physicality that existed in Ulster football when he was a player. As part of his argument, he references a challenge game against Antrim when he hit out a defender who was trying to restrain him from running for the ball.
'I was being marked by a fellow called Andy McGowan from the St John's club whose nickname was 'The Crab'. The nickname was earned by his method of defending, which was to hold you in a vice off the ball. He tortured me for ten minutes, thumping and holding. Eventually, after a Derry point, he released me, at which point I hit him in the nose as hard as I could. The punch connected beautifully and he went to the ground in a daze. Oney O'Neill, from my home club Dungiven, was the referee. He ran in, bent down to McGowan and delivered the immortal line, "You deserved that you dirty bastard."
