Kerry forward Kieran Donaghy has revealed just what the motivation was behind his now famous post All-Ireland interview when he had a blast at RTÉ analyst Joe Brolly.
Donaghy played a starring role in Kerry’s 2-09 to 0-12 All-Ireland final triumph over Donegal and in the immediate aftermath of that victory, he reserved special mention for the Sunday Game analyst when he said; "I think Joe Brolly told us the production line was finished in Kerry - well, Joe Brolly, what do you think of that?"
Speaking in an interview on RTÉ2’s Second Captain’s Live, Donaghy explained just how a series of newspaper articles from Brolly during the season had stuck in his mind and provided him with motivation.
"He wrote an article about me about four months ago saying 'catch a falling Star' that I was finished and that I was no more good and that the tactics were gone," Donaghy said.
"Then he wrote an article about four weeks after that about how Kerry football was finished and how the conveyor belt is gone and 'wrap these boys and send them off'.
"You know, they’re trying to sell papers and he’s trying to make a few headlines. Joe’s well able to give it and I knew he’d be well able to take a bit of stick so when I got my chance I gave it to him.
"James O’Donoghue actually came to me and he was saying 'Brolly, he had an awful lot of goes of us this year so we’ll show him today'.
"He actually put it into my head but I don’t know why at that moment in time [I thought of] Joe Brolly and why I’d stare and roar down a camera and then walk off roaring. When I look back on it, I don’t know what I was at but sure it was probably emotion," the Austin Stacks clubman added.
"When people write you off you want to answer and loads of sports people have gone through that stage of their career where people write them off and not everyone gets to be fortunate enough to get a chance to answer and thankfully my chance came."
