Brolly, Joe
September 17, 1993
Flying Joe Brolly
The Dungiven Dynamo and a potential match winner
The province that brought us James McCartan, the pocket rocket from Down and Tony 'the tiger' Boyle of Donegal has now delivered up Derry's very own human dynamo, one Joseph Brolly esquire, the man who makes grass burn when in full flight, writes Kevin Carney.
Ulster football is not just buoyant at present, it's almost looking like it's sinkable as the countdown to the meeting of the Derry Destroyer and the Cork Cruiser draws ever so closer. The head on clash on Sunday next will determine which provincial flag will fly the highest in '93. Gaels up north who have marvelled at the skills of charismatic footballers like those mentioned earlier have every reason to believe that the Red Hand remains a winning hand for another year at least! McCartan, Boyle and Brolly all share a common gift. Crowd pleasers who can leave defenders tearing their hair out in frustration all three are born match winners but much more than that every time they gain possession the Richter Scale takes a bit of a battering especially when Croke Park plays host. A breed apart but a kind of species that cannot help but make turnstiles click such is the consistency of their appeal to your average discerning gaelic footballing fan Joe Brolly can be guaranteed to provide value for money in this year's All-Ireland football decider.
Called to the Bar last March, the ace attacker from the Oak Leaf County is a self employed Barrister, a freelance legal eagle in essence and so perhaps his ability to argue his case for pole position in the right hand corner of the pitch is hardly surprising. A solid performance against Cork this weekend will definitely strengthen his fans argument that our Joe Brolly should claim at least a nomination on the All-Star line out to be named later this year.
Joe Brolly works as a freelance and as the majority of Dublin fans acquainted with his style of play who would have seen him in the recent thrilling All-Ireland semi-final, he plays like a freelance footballer too. A free spirit at Croke Park, he gave the impression for all the world on August 22nd last that asked to walk on water in the canal alongside Headquarters that he would have tired his hand! There's little doubt but that Derry's right full forward is currently bubbling over with confidence and as any homosapien with a penchant for participating in sports will tell you, confidence is the key which opens the door to personal best performances. "Confidence is the key note of any forward's game. It's the difference between a good and a potentially good player", Joe testifies. Last February/March he himself lost a certain degree of confidence. Missing training because of work commitments and uncertain of a regular place on his county's National League first fifteen selection, the Dungiven clubman went through the rigours of altering his status of student to that of a self- employed person but that's all over him now. He's back roaring down the right wing at his very confident best, tearing strips of defenders with gay abandon.
Joe Brolly is one hundred percent fit and playing out of his skin, skinning a succession of man to man markers in turn. You have to be 100 percent fit when you play in Croke Park otherwise chinks will exposed. Mick Deegan, the man who took over the job of tracking Brolly after colleagues Paddy Morgan and Paul O'Neill were relocated, wasn't one hundred percent fit and paid the ultimate price against a man playing with such purpose and conviction. Deegan just couldn't cope with the consistent threat offered by the Derry wizard. Brolly was dancing up front and sadly for the Dubs there wasn't anyone in defence that day who could keep in step with messr. Brolly, that most beautiful of dancers on the current G.A.A. stage.
Once the opportunist who'd shimmy in and out of the action with varying degrees of effect, Joe Brolly is now a leader on the field of play. Now one of the men team manager Eamonn Coleman looks on to carry the fight to the opposition. He's learned to be versatile too, learned to be Derry's first line of defence as well as the team's first line of attack. "You have to be superfit to play the type of running game that's played at present. A player might get away with hiding for a while at club level but you can't bluff your way through a game at county level, especially in the Championship. Not chasing back is a serious offence for a forward in the modern game", he explained. Waving goodbye to the days of the hopeful punts forward to the front men, adieu to the aimless interchange between the centrally located operatives and au revoir to the overplay up front has helped transform the in-form Brolly, a player who lives and breathes by the quick delivery and first time ball.
These days Derry's football is Brolly's kind of football, a pattern and style of play that's a mirror image of the type of ball play that earned the Oak Leaf County a National Club title for Lavey a year earlier. Both victories are viewed as equally important towards the construction of a new self- belief in Derry football, Joe argues. "The Lavey win was a particular milestone for football in the county. Henry Downey was brought in to the panel after the Lavey win and their style of play became Derry's style. The short ball game, the quick movements and the use of the ball efficiently became our stock in trade. Derry's League win put an end to the notion that Down were the only team capable of going to Croke Park and winning. The county team set its sights higher ever since".
In the Derry equation pertaining to the forwards, tact, awareness, supreme fitness and team work call the shots and with the right formula, young Brolly is certainly helping to make the northerners formula work. As the team's inferiority complex has disappeared so too has Down's Monaghan's Donegal's and Dublin's chances of All-Ireland glory. Derry are on the march and lieutenant Brolly is leading the way! For the Dungiven and Derry dynamo beating Dublin and reaching the All-Ireland final is the stuff out of which fairytales are penned. The by-products of such achievements are real life treasures for him and his 'ilk up north though. "Our run over the last couple of years has galvanised the Derry people behind us. There used to be a cynicism in the past up here but it's gone and there's now tremendous goodwill behind us and amazing financial support with the right infrastructure being put in place".
In a certain way, the whole razzmatazz is passing Joe Brolly by. It's a time for the spectator in truth. In months following Sunday's match, it'll be Joe's time but for the present he admits that it's too early to enjoy the joy of winning out Ulster and of making it to the All-Ireland final. "I can't fully appreciate what's involved at present because of the frenzy after the semi final win and going from it to work and dealing with the support thereafter. It's all been a bit of a blur really but I'm aware, just like the rest of the lads that we're all part of a special club that's united supporters from Dungiven, Ballinderry, Newbridge, Lavey and every other team in the county".
A former Sigerson Cup team mate at Queens of intercounty stars Eamon Burns, James McCartan, Cathal O'Rourke, Paul Brewster, Brian McCormick and Anthony Tohill, the Dungiven man surprises nobody really when suggesting that a similar performance as that put in the semi final may not do the business against Cork. "I'd have to say that the same performance again in the final won't be good enough against Cork. I'm sure they'll use the ball better than Dublin did and I think the Cork forwards are a better unit than Dublin possessed. There's definitely no question about it we'll have to expand every ounce of energy in order to beat Cork", explained Joe whose father Francie wore the Derry jersey with pride in the sixties.
Though he acknowledges the fact that he had his critics in the past, Joe Brolly is not the kind of player on for working himself into a sweat to prove people wrong. Neither is he of the breed that believes life ought to take a back seat in listing man's raison d'etre. ""I'm confident we can win on Sunday. Who knows I might score a point with my right foot or Cork could dump us on our backsides, anything could happen on the day", he philosophises. The most influential player on the field in the second of this year's two All-Ireland football semi finals, Joe is a favourite with the fans countrywide and not only because of his jinking, exciting runs and blistering pace. No. As anyone north, south, east or west of the country had the pleasure to hear him interviewed on radio or television, the bould Joe talks as good a game as he plays it. He's the Louisville Lip of gaelic football and performs just as excitingly in the arena. Padraig Moran, Paul O'Neil and Mick Deegan failed to pin him down. Can Cork's best at the back? Sunday will tell a tale but I'm sure the Hogan Stand readers are mightily glad we caught up with him.
Written by the Hogan Stand Magazine
17th Sept. 1993
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