Mention the name Joe Brolly to any GAA fan, and they will conjure up images of him in a suit on The Sunday Game, verbally jousting with the likes of Pat Spillane or Colm O'Rourke.
The Derryman was on our television screens for so long, splitting the nation with his sometimes controversial takes on the game of Gaelic football, or making us laugh with his quick quips and endless stories.
It's because of this, that we sometimes forget that Brolly was actually a footballer in his day too, and a really good one at that.
The tricky corner forward won an All-Ireland with Derry in 1993, and lifted two Ulster titles and two All-Stars in a glittering career that propels him into the legend category in the Oakleaf county.
So we know he can talk the talk, and walk the walk, but what you maybe didn't know, was that he often did both at the same time.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Puke Football Podcast, former Derry captain Gerard O'Kane reveals what it was like to actually mark Brolly in a club game, and it was a truly unforgettable experience.
"I would have been about 18, playing corner back for Glenullin, and we were playing against Dungiven" recalled O'Kane.
"I wasn't sent in to mark him, but I was number four and he was number 13, so it was just the way that it fell, and even though he would have been 33 or so, he would have known who I was because we had won the All-Ireland minors.
"I went in to shake his hand, and you always hear stories about him, but unless you experience it yourself, you just think that it's nonsense.
"He was like 'Well young man, how's it going, were you out last night, any women?' - all of this sort of chat, and at 18 I was like 'right whatever' and wasn't taking him on.
"I was finishing school and was going to do Law in Queens University and he asked me what I was doing, and when I told him his ears perked up: 'Jesus, if you ever need any help, give me a shout.'"
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Brolly himself was and still is of course, a successful barrister, and it turns out his skills in conversation helped him just as much on the football field, as it did in the courthouse.
"He took a pen out and started to write his number down on my arm"
Former Derry captain @GerardOKane84 reveals what it was like to actually mark @JoeBrolly1993 and it's even funnier than you would imagine 😂 pic.twitter.com/7YoiWRaNm0
— Lee Costello (@PukeFootballPod) June 12, 2024
"The first couple of balls came in, straight down the line, and at 18 I would have had more pace at that age than he did, so I was winning the ball", O'Kane told Puke Football.
"He then started to shout at the top of his voice: 'Don't kick the ball in, O'Kane has me, don't kick it in, he's too good for me', and I'm thinking that I have him here.
"The two of us walked over near the goalmouth, and he went to the umpire: 'Do you have a pen on you?'
"He took the pen out, and he started to write his phone number down on my arm, this is true, and he said if I ever need any help that I should give him a shout, but as soon as he started, the pen was dropped, away he went, put the ball over the bar and came back in laughing.
"Me and him have talked about this since, he kicked about 0-07, and he had barely touched the ball. He never won a ball off me, but kicked seven and was laughing away, and I just thought - I've been taught a big lesson there."
Thankfully O'Kane went on to have a very successful inter-county career, going on to captain Derry and represent them for more than a decade, but he was sure to never take his marker's number in the middle of a match again.
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