Joe Brolly rubbishes comparison between Mayo footballers and Cork hurlers in verdict of final ‘disaster'

The Irish Sun

4 days ago

IN a real sign of Cork's hurlers being at their lowest, Joe Brolly has outlined why this year's final letdown is worse than those suffered by Mayo's footballers throughout the 2010s.
Mayo
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Patrick Horgan turned 37 in May so who knows if he will be back for another season
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Mayo lost All-Ireland finals in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021
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For once, he paid Mayo a bit of a compliment
Credit: @freestateirl
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Tipperary trailed by six points at half-time before going on to win by 3-27 to 1-18
Speaking on his
He argued: "What I think about this Cork disaster is that this is not one like Mayo where you could say 'We have lost an epic game by a point. We are very, very close and we will redouble our efforts.'
"And that was a constant thing y'know, they lost a replay against a great Kerry team in the 2014 semi-final...lost another replay in the 2016 final against Dublin.
"That whole time they were playing brilliantly in big games and the question was why can they not close off that last five minutes.
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"Because they were always there with five minutes to go, and sometimes were ahead. This is different.
"I mean this is carnage, this is a f***ing wasteland of dreams."
He then heavily criticised manager Pat Ryan and suggested his players will no longer believe he is the man to lead them to the promised land as their drought stretches beyond two decades.
Ryan and his staff were clearly outwitted on the day by counterpart Liam Cahill
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But the players must take their fair share of the blame for a 35-minute performance where their execution of the basic skills of the game abandoned them.
In the immediate aftermath of their crushing loss, the 48-year-old
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Asked if this one was worse than their
"Last year, we came away with a good bit of pride in the way we performed and the epic game it was. In fairness, that second half petered out and that was disappointing.
'Our momentum and energy was terrible in the second half. They had all the momentum, they had all the energy, they working the hardest. That's disappointing from our point of view.
'Obviously it's the second All-Ireland in a row that we've lost. Just really, really disappointed with that second half. We didn't represent ourselves the way we should have represented ourselves.'
Ryan admitted that Cork were in 'a great position' after Shane Barrett's goal
Asked to explain the 21-point turn-around after the interval, the defeated gaffer said: 'We just got out-worked really.
'They got great momentum, got a few scores and got the crowd behind them. They got a couple of breaks of the ball, a couple of the goals they got, and then obviously the sending-off.
'Look, credit to Tipperary. They came out and worked really, really hard. We were in a good position at half-time but we got blown away in the second half.
'Once momentum goes against you, it's hard to get it back.
'We just didn't wrestle it back and unfortunately Tipperary were in the ascendancy. Like really, really good teams do, they put us to the sword.'
LUCK WASN'T A FACTOR
During a second half that saw them score just 0-2, Cork struck the woodwork four times. They also had Eoin Downey sent off and Conor Lehane had a penalty saved by Rhys Shelly.
But Ryan said: 'Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it. The harder you work, the more breaks that come for you and the more balls that fall into your hands.
'They worked really hard, used the ball really well and put us under pressure on our puckout, especially in the second half, and put us under big pressure on their puckout in the second half.
'Goals change games and they gave them great momentum.
'And then Eoin getting sent off, you're chasing the game a small bit as we lose our plus-one at the back whereas they can keep their plus-one at the back. You're chasing the game an awful lot.
'We're just disappointed, with our reaction. To only score two points in the second half isn't good enough for us.'