Joe Brolly always-entertaining but not so accurate especially on Mayo

One trick pony

We’re all guilty of some ice-cold takes from time to time but RTÉ pundit Jackie Tyrrell’s dismissal of Galway marksman Conor Whelan as a “one-trick pony” during his analysis at half-time of the Leinster final must surely go down as the chilliest of the year.

Whelan finished with 1-6 from play on that occasion and despite the Tribesmen losing to Tyrell’s own Kilkenny, he was also selected as Man of the Match.

On Saturday, Whelan hit 1-4 and again was Man of the Match. In choosing Whelan, who caused the Tipperary defence untold problems, for the accolade, Joe Canning took the opportunity to throw some shade the way of his punditry colleague Tyrell, too.

“Yeah, the one trick pony Conor Whelan,” Canning gently chided.

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“Especially in the first half when Galway needed scores, he was tormenting everyone. Cathal Barrett got moved off him, there isn’t too many players he gets moved off. That just shows the effect he was having on the full-back line.”

Favourites

The always-entertaining Joe Brolly continued his war on Mayo (and, one might argue, historical accuracy) on Sunday.

In the 2012 All-Ireland final, “as favourites, they froze against Donegal”, he wrote. In actual fact, Donegal were favourites (8/15) for that game. Betting odds aside, a cursory glance at the newspaper archives confirms that the vast majority of journos and pundits were tipping Jim McGuinness’s side to win.

[ Mayo march on as Galway left to mull over regrets ]

“They could win big games as underdogs ... but not as favourites,” Joe reckoned, citing the Donegal game in 2013. In reality, Mayo were 4/6 favourites on that occasion and went on to beat the All-Ireland champions by 16 points.

“In the 2014 semi-final replay, strong favourites against a mediocre Kerry team, they collapsed altogether,” he blasts. Of course, mediocre Kerry went on to win the final!

Goals galore

When Danny Magill hit the net in Croke Park yesterday after 17 minutes, it made for an unusual scoreline: Down 4-2 Laois 0-1.

Down’s goalscoring prowess shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone who has been watching Conor Laverty’s side closely, however.

In all competitions this season, the Mourne men have hit the onion bag 36 times. Most impressively, they have only failed to raise a green flag on one occasion in the 18 matches they have played this season, the Ulster semi-final loss to Armagh.

To put their goalscoring improvement in context, and albeit some of the seasons were shortened, in 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined, Down scored a total of 23 goals. In 2018, a full season, they scored 10.

Tribute

Meath’s Matthew Costello paid tribute to well-known Dunshaughlin Gael Denis Kealy, who died in a tragic accident, after picking up the Man of the Match award.

After being interviewed, just as the show was set to cut back to the analysts, the 22-year-old interjected to pass on his condolences. Looking directly into the camera, he stated: “To Richie, Kevin and the rest of the Kealy family, our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

Quote of the week

Paddy Workin’, that’s what Lee (Keegan) says is your actual nickname?

—  Joanne Cantwell reveals Paddy Durcan’s punderful nom de guerre to the nation.

Numbers game

4 – Times in the last five years that Mayo have dumped Galway out of the All-Ireland race.