Like it or not, Joe Brolly was among the top talking points of the All-Ireland football final last Sunday week. While Dublin and Kerry played out a classic and Dublin rescued the five-in-a-row, the half-time performance of the RTE panel, and in particular Brolly, stole the show for all the wrong reasons.
While Kieran Donaghy and Peter Canavan had a reasonable and analytical conversation about the first half and the decisions of the referee David Gough on Sky Sports, there was a circus in full flow on the national broadcaster, with Brolly and Ciaran Whelan refusing to acknowledge the evidence of their own eyes on replays and Brolly suggesting Gough had been influenced by "Kerry propaganda".
While he has since apologised to Gough and admitted he made the right decision, it appears RTE have had enough, having released their panel details for the replay this Saturday.
Perhaps deciding they needed at least one neutral on the panel to counter Pat Spillane and Ciaran Whelan, Dublin's Joe Brolly has been replaced by former Mayo manager and current Donegal coach Stephen Rochford, according to John Fogarty in the Irish Examiner.
Rochford impressed alongside Spillane and Kevin McStay for the live coverage of the All-Ireland semi-final between Tyrone and Kerry last month.
Brolly had an interesting performance for the drawn game, even beyond the batshit half time farce surrounding Gough's performance. His pre-game attack on Pat Spillane raised hearts around the country, as well as a few eyebrows for the astounding lack of self awareness.
Tensions running high before throw-in. 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/8EnZJyfZxb
— Mark Farrelly (@MarkFarrelly131) September 1, 2019
There's always a chance his penchant for drama and conflict will be missed on Saturday, but he's sure to be on the highlights show, and the air of calm in the Croke Park studio might allow us to breathe and take in what we've seen in the actual football.
Let's just hope for a game as packed with incident and drama.
