Brolly: Respect is a One-Way Street for Cody
A FRIEND of mine told me a story once about a drunken night in Dublin when she was a university student. She fell in with a student from Cavan and they ended up back in her place. After a bit of passionate kissing on the sofa, she suggested they move to the bedroom.
Just as they were climbing into the bed, he suddenly stopped and said to her âThereâs something I want to do.â âWhat is it?â she said. He hesitated for a second, then blurted out â Ah f*** it Iâm just going to do it.â
As she looked on in bemusement, he stood bolt upright and sang the whole of AmhrĂĄn na bhFiann at the top of his voice. At the height of his passion, that was what came into his mind.
A Frenchman would have difficulty understanding his motivation, but when she told me the story I didnât really think it that strange at all.
After all, when I was a small boy in Station Road, Dungiven, I spent my days in the back garden playing football. Before I started, whether there were ten of us, or only me, I stood with the ball under my arm and sang AmhrĂĄn na bhFiann from start to finish, eyes closed, imagining it was All-Ireland final day and we were about to take on the Kingdom.
In my head, Michael OâHehir was commentating and the finale was always the same. I broke through the defence and as Charlie Nelligan advanced, I gently lobbed him, as I had often seen my uncle Eunan do in Dungiven training to Twin Tracey. Only Charlie Nelligan was a lot bigger than Twin, who had to compete at the trough with 19 siblings and, as a result, never grew.
That Kerry team were the inspiration for a generation of young people all over Ireland. To us, they were Gods. On and off the field. Even at their lowest ebb. With two minutes to go in the 1982 All-Ireland final, they led by two points against Offaly and the mythical five-in-a-row was in sight.
The introduction of Offalyâs portly sub Seamus Darby seemed irrelevant. Michael OâHehir â a very close friend of mine who I never met â described what happened next:
âOffaly look as if theyâre winning the way theyâre diddling and dawdlingâŚ. And here they come. This is Liam Connor the full back⌠a high lobbing, dropping ball in towards the goal mouthâŚ. A shot!..⌠A goal! A goal for OffalyâŚâ
A stunned GAA world looked on as Kingdom goalie Charlie Nelligan rushed to kick the ball out. Kerry attacked, lost possession and the final whistle went.
The five-in-a-row was gone forever. Their manager Mick OâDwyer wept openly. When Liam Connor kicked in that high ball, Tommy Doyle rose to fetch it and as he did, he was pushed in the back by Darby, a much smaller man. No whistle went and Darby, taking full advantage of his good fortune, blasted the ball to the net for a goal that is embedded in the Kerry psyche.
In 2007, 25 years after that final, a reunion was held for both teams. Weeshie Fogarty, the legendary voice of the Kingdom, was in attendance.
Afterwards, he wrote âOne name was on every personâs lips, Seamus Darby. The name still conjures up all sorts of nightmares for Kerry people and I know many even now who will not discuss the happening and turn away from their television sets whenever itâs re-played.
âItâs difficult to believe that many Kerry footballers of today were not even born when it occurred and fail to appreciate just how much it impacted on the mindset of Kerry people at the time.â
A distraught Micko, when asked about that missed push straight after the game, waved it away with the words âThere were lots of fouls and pushes out there today by both teams. I wouldnât bother about that at all. The best team won.â
The best team lost and everyone knew it. But even at his lowest ebb, the man described as the greatest football manager in the history of the GAA had too much class to say it. Which is more than can be said for the greatest hurling manager in the history of the GAA.
At his press conference the day after the hurling final, even as the dust was settling on a great all-Ireland victory (his tenth as a manager), he mounted a pre-meditated and vindictive attack on Barry Kelly, the referee in the drawn game, which has taken the gloss off the achievement and left a bad taste in the mouths of Gaels everywhere.
It is the sort of behaviour that we associate with managerial bullies in soccer, the likes of Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson.
In 2005, Jose Mourinho mounted a blistering attack on referee Anders Frisk after a Champions League game between Chelsea and Barcelona, implying he was biased against Chelsea and had in effect, deliberately sent off Didier Drogba after a half-time discussion with Barca manager Frank Rikjard.
Two weeks later, Frisk decided he had no option but to retire from refereeing. At the time, FIFA described Mourinho as âthe enemy of football.â
Sunday week ago in CityWest, Cody mounted a virtually identical attack on Barry Kelly for the late free he awarded Tippâ in the drawn game. The implication was that Kelly had deliberately awarded Tippâ a free which he knew wasnât a free, in order to give them the chance to beat Kilkenny. Cody chose his words for maximum impact:
âThey (Tipperary) were handed an opportunity which was a completely wrong decision. We didnât speak about it the last day but it was criminal.
âPeople can say that I am whingeing and moaning all they like, but I am telling the truth. You donât hand a team a free puck and say, âLads, there you go, win the gameâ. It was like that.â
Like Mourinho, Codyâs ethics appear to be flexible. After the 2009 final, when Kilkenny secured the four-in-a-row courtesy of a very dubious late penalty award, Marty Morrissey was treated like a small boy by Cody when he asked entirely reasonable questions about the refereeâs decision. Codyâs parting shot was this: âMarty, I make a habit of saying absolutely nothing about referees.â When presumably what he really meant was âMarty, I make a habit of saying absolutely nothing about referees if their dodgy decisions favour my team.â
Unlike the unprincipled world of professional soccer, for us, the ethos of the game is all important.
Hurling folk have tut-tutted and sneered as the ethics of Gaelic football have begun to erode and a ruthless âwin at all costsâ mentality has taken hold. They will tell you that fair play, manliness and sportsmanship remains their creed.
Yet, their High Priest attacks whoever he wants within the game when things donât go his way.
In that same press conference, he sneered at ex Kilkenny players who he said had questioned the teamââ ability to win the final, describing them sarcastically as âsome of our own geniuses as well. Former greats and so-called greats. So-called greats yeah.â
Like Micko and his great Kerry team, these Kilkenny hurlers should be the inspiration for a generation of young people all over Ireland. Instead, they are becoming a bit of a turn off, courtesy of their manager. For Cody, respect is a one way street.
Further evidence of Gaelic Football inferiority complex
Please Clare, save hurling!
Brolly is spot on, as he tends to be.
No thoughts on the obviously made up story to start the article?
Not at this moment in time, mate.
Joe Brolly knows the score
Good article. Codys attack was much more nasty than say giving out about a ref immediately after the match in the heat of the moment.
He called the journalists specifically there to slate the referee. Petty, vindictive, bastard.
[QUOTE=âJulio Geordio, post: 1031769, member: 332â]Good article. Codys attack was much more nasty than say giving out about a ref immediately after the match in the heat of the moment.
He called the journalists specifically there to slate the referee. Petty, vindictive, bastard.[/QUOTE]
Himself and Duignan (who worships Cody) both launched horrible attacks on Kelly this year.
Barry Kelly had his chance.
Fantastic article from Brolly- He knows the score.
Joe Brolly and Barry Kelly are similar types of people
Yep. Roaster air raid warning.
That Cavan lad is some roaster.
I bet he left his socks on in the bed, the fookin roaster!..
There was a lad on here once who boasted about riding some bogger bitch while she was wearing a GAA jersey :o
Intelligent.
Brian Cody is a boring cunt with no personality. I suppose.
Joe Brolly is an outrageous cunt of a human being.
I havenât even read the first post.
[QUOTE=âfarmerinthecity, post: 1031813, member: 24â]Brian Cody is a boring cunt with no personality. I suppose.
Joe Brolly is an outrageous cunt of a human being.
I havenât even read the first post.[/QUOTE]
bit harsh - he has a media profile which he is encouraged to have to generate this sort of discussion
he gave his kidney to a stranger who needed a kidney ffs sake