Enda: Riverdance makes me cry (Audio)

We have heard Joe Brolly come out with all sorts of stuff over the years but we never thought we would hear him compare any GAA star to Mario Balotelli. We were wrong.

The Championship has started and the TV coverage will kick off soon. To help get the show on the road RTE have sent out their panel of pundits and they have been popping up in all sorts of places giving their views on the summer ahead.

But the one we all want to listen to, whether we like him or not, is Joe Brolly. He popped up on DCUFM yesterday talking about a whole range of subjects with Seamus Conwell but it was when he turned his sights on Mayo, and one player in particular, that things got really interesting.

The former Derry star was discussing Mayo’s chances on ending the quest for Sam and needless to say, Brolly didn’t think they had much hope. The All-Ireland winner spoke about a “psychological problem” with the Mayo team and how they need an extraordinary forward, like an Eoin Bradley, to take them to the promised land.

Brolly then turned his attention to Conor Mortimer. Brolly said that Mortimer was good in the league but when the pressure comes on in the big occasions “he is tried and failed”.

Brolly went on to say that he would “discard” a player like Mortimer as he “drains the togetherness” of the team. Players need more than great skills to make it, according to the pundit they need to have “big personalities and to play really, really hard.”

He then compares Mortimer to Mario Balotelli at Manchester City, calling him the ‘white Balotelli’ and citing the slogans on T-shirts as an example.

As we know, City will probably be crowned champions tomorrow so we think Joe’s analogy is a little flawed on that score alone, never mind the rest.

Understandably, the man himself was not best pleased either, as he tweeted this afternoon.

This could be a row that runs and runs all summer.