While the noble sport of hurling failed to keep the correct score at the Christy Ring cup final yesterday, the controversy that Gaelic football decided to engulf itself in this week related to Joe Brolly's criticism of Kieran McGeeney.
Brolly claimed that Armagh players were forced to "swear allegiance to the cult of Kieran", claiming that the manager exerted too much control over the squad. This, in Brolly's opinion, ranged from a suspension of club football down to a medical student being told he was not allowed do weight training on his own, having the effect of blunting Armagh's forwards.
It should be noted that Brolly did not restrict his criticism to Armagh, but saw the priority given by the County Board to the county team as symptomatic of a serious ill besetting Gaelic football. He asked what was the point of Derry spending €250,000 on the county team.
A number of figures in Armagh football hit back at Brolly, with Paul Grimley claiming Brolly's assessment was "poisonous and personal".
In his column in today's Sunday Independent, Brolly channels Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men by claiming that Armagh couldn't handle the truth:
The real problem the Armagh board have is that what I said is true.
Brolly believes that the GAA has become too similar to a business for "managers and hangers-on", with the funnelling of the majority of funds and concentration towards the inter-county team.
It is also revealed that the Armagh County Board made a complaint to RTE, and when asked to confirm that they had done so, the board refused to either confirm or deny, an act Brolly brands as "spineless". He has invited the Armagh chairman to a television debate with him surrounding the participation of county players in the club championship, the manager's expenses, and the relationship between McGeeney and the county board.
Knowing those involved, this may run and run.
[Sunday Independent]
See Also: There's Major Controversy Brewing After The Christy Ring Cup Final
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