Derry’s best chance of beating Tyrone? Not playing them.
That’s according to Joe Brolly anyway.
Damian Barton will be thrilled about the build-up to Sunday’s Ulster championship clash. Two of Ireland’s fiercest enemies come head-to-head in Celtic Park but nobody is even fleeting the idea that Mickey Harte’s boys could get bitten in the lion’s den.
There’s nearly no pressure on the ’93 All-Ireland winner in this his first inter-county championship game as a manager because everyone is talking about Tyrone. They’re talking about Mickey Harte’s men in August/September and they’re talking about how they are the team that can beat Dublin.
And Joe Brolly is another man who is despairing ahead of Sunday, not even considering Derry’s chances.
In fact, he thinks his native county’s best hope is to employ tactics he saw first-hand used by Millwall fans on a London tube. Thuggery – before the match begins. Before Tyrone even reach the pitch.
In his Gaelic Life column, the Dungiven man referenced West Ham fans’ attack of the Manchester United team bus last week and he thinks Derry supporters can take inspiration from it on Sunday.
This is insane https://t.co/PDApxeYCes
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 10, 2016
Brolly wrote about his own experience of a Millwall-West Ham clash, and how it has shaped his thinking ahead of this weekend.
“As we came to the stop before the ground, the wall of the carriage started rumbling. Millwall fans, beating the windows with their fists. The train stopped and they rumbled into the carriage. A young policeman wearing one of those tall helmets stepped in with them. ‘You f***ing smell pork lads?’ The Millwall fans crowded round him, sniffing his face and body. Just as the doors closed, he stepped out. Jesus, I thought, we’re dead.
“The GAA bag was under my seat now and I had my legs covering it as best I could. ‘Awroight sunshine’ said a big man in a leather jacket, leering into my face. I nodded. He grabbed the fluorescent light and pulled it down. It exploded, sending black dust everywhere.
“He looked at his hands, covered in black dust, then rubbed them on his face. ‘Look lads’ he shouted, ‘I’m a f****ing n****r.’ His mates began slapping his face, chanting ‘Wog Wog Wog Wog.’ At the next stop, out they rumbled, singing a catchy little number along the lines of ‘We are Millwall, super Millwall, no one likes us, We will kill you.’
“I breathed out and reflected that it was good to be alive.
“The only way for Derry to beat Tyrone on Sunday week might be to hijack their bus on the way to the ground. Maybe invite some Millwall fans over in advance to give the Derry Supporters Club some pointers.”
Brolly agrees that Tyrone don’t have that star forward you’re supposed to need to win an All-Ireland. But just like his Derry team in ’93, they might not need it.
They have the collective. And they’re readying for Dublin.
Just don’t forget about this trip to Derry first.
Read his full column on the Gaelic Life website.
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