JOE BROLLY: LAUGHING LARRY AND NO LAUGHING MATTER


I AM still recovering from the sing song at Knockmore GAA club. Michael English on the piano makes everyone sound good, even the glamorous brunette, who is the only woman I know who can see in three keys simultaneously. If the club was bouncing to ‘Courtin in the Kitchen’ it went to a whole new […]


JOE BROLLY: The problem with pulling the brakes


WICKLOW hurler Daniel Staunton won man of the match in a club championship game at the weekend. After the game, a bewildered looking Daniel was presented with a bag of new season Wexican Queens potatoes by a beaming Louise Hollingsworth of Kelly’s Fruit and Vegetables, Wicklow Town. He will need a wide mantelpiece. When we […]


JOE BROLLY: Galway v Clifford


THE Dublin empire has fallen, replaced by a democracy of flawed challengers. Tyrone came out of the blue to win it last year. When they did, it was so mentally overwhelming for them that they were unable to recover in time to defend their title. They were a ghost team this season, walloped by Derry […]


JOE BROLLY: THE BALLYBOFEY TRIANGLE


DESSIE Farrell said last week that Dublin are on a good trajectory. Which was as plausible as the Russian ambassador saying they are mounting a humanitarian operation in Ukraine. Maybe Dessie meant a good downward trajectory. If that is so, then against Kildare on Sunday their trajectory got even better. It’s not that the Dubs […]


Joe Brolly: All religions and none


HOW do you tell the difference between a Protestant and a Catholic? A Protestant’s eyes are closer together. We used to believe that when we were children because that’s what everybody said. I didn’t know any Protestants apart from my piano teacher from the Largey, Stephen Wilson, who we nicknamed “Sahurday man” because like the […]


Joe Brolly: Henry and Marv


MARVIN  Hagler died last week and suddenly, I was back on the window sill of the senior common room in St Pat’s Armagh, stunned and elated. It was 1985. Hagler had just knocked out Tommy Hearns in an insane street fight that happened to take place in a boxing ring in Caesar’s Palace. The referee […]