Joe Brolly Has No Apologies For Punchy Article Dismissing Kerry

Kerry stunned the Gaelic football world on Sunday afternoon with their demolition of defending champions Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

A year on from their semi-final exit to the same opposition, the Kingdom were out for revenge in Croke Park, with the Orchard County favourites with the bookies to continue their defence of Sam Maguire.

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One of the pundits confidently writing off Kerry in the buildup to the game was the ever-outspoken Joe Brolly. Writing in the Irish Independent, Brolly spoke on the downtrodden mood in Kerry in the weeks leading up to the Armagh clash, saying he now believed that what many have described as 'cute hoorism' - pessimism about Kerry from the county's own fans - was actually genuine.

Most notably, Brolly said that he saw David Clifford as "the only Kerry footballer worthy of the name", saying that the game should be billed as Armagh v Clifford.

"The current crop is useless altogether," said Brolly. "Only David Clifford is exempt."

Kerry fairly well proved him and many other pundits wrong with their total domination of the second half, which saw them score 14 unanswered points over 18 minutes in the second half, en route to a massive 0-32 to 1-21 victory. That 0-10 of that total came from Sean O'Shea proved Kerry have more feathers in their cap than just David Clifford.

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After the game, Kerry manager Jack O'Connor pointed to Brolly's pointed article as a source of motivation:

I saw somebody writing this morning that said the only Kerry player worthy of being called a Kerry player was David Clifford. Now, David is a great player but David will tell you that there was a fair supporting cast there today. We think we have a lot of good footballers but I think sometimes we're being judged on different criteria to other teams. Unfortunately a few pundits down our way let themselves down in that regard.

As the dust settles on All-Ireland quarter-final weekend, Brolly has now spoken about his article, defending himself after Kerry made a huge statement in Croke Park.

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READ HERE: McConville Dismisses Significance Of Unwanted Record Broken By Armagh In Kerry Loss

Joe Brolly expands on controversial Clifford comments after Kerry blitz Armagh

Does Joe have anything to apologise for or should the world be apologising to him for misunderstanding what he does? New episode available Tuesday morning! pic.twitter.com/jLI6IWo8cU — Free State with Joe Brolly & Dion Fanning (@freestateirl) June 30, 2025

On his podcast Free State with Dion Fanning, Joe Brolly naturally addressed his pre-match criticism of Kerry.

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The ex-RTÉ pundit said that people had not delved past the header of his piece, choosing only to use it as a 'gotcha' after the final whistle.

Furthermore, Brolly said that the aim of his pieces was to entertain, and that they were written before "chaotic and unpredictable" games.

You're like one of these people on Twitter who read the headline of the piece and now go then, 'Well, what do you say now?!' Let me try to explain this to you. This...my pieces are an entertainment, they're a conversation in the pub. They're written before the games - you understand that? I don't have a crystal ball, games are chaotic and unpredictable! Anything can and often does happen. These pieces essentially - I'm not one bit irritated! - they're fun. That's why they're read, that's why people get into it and enjoy the conversation and the debate and all the rest of it.

In fairness to Brolly, he did cite several Kerry sources in his article who felt similarly down on their chances against Armagh on Sunday.

However, he surely must have expected that he would be called out for his statements on David Clifford and Kerry after such a superb performance from their entire forward line in Croke Park.

With a chip on their shoulder, Kerry will be just as dangerous as any of the other three teams left in this summer's All-Ireland.

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