Joe Brolly and Marty Morrissey seem to be best of buds again

RELATIONS BETWEEN JOE Brolly and Marty Morrissey seem to be on the mend again after the RTÉ pundit spoke on Morrissey’s new show ‘The Marty Squad’ last night.

Brolly made headlines a fortnight ago when he compared Cavan football of being ‘as ugly as Marty Morrissey’ on The Sunday Game.

Presenter Michael Lyster immediately forced Brolly to backtrack and after apologising to the people of Cavan, Brolly then came back at half time to declare ‘it was said in the spirit of affection and not meant literally.’

The Clare man was quick to dispel any rumours of a rift between the two last week, but he admitted he was disappointed and he thought the Derry man crossed the line. “It (Brolly’s comment) crossed the line and it disappointed me. It’s done now though. RTÉ have dealt with it appropriately, Joe has apologised and we’re moving on.”

It appears they have moved on and Brolly took to Twitter yesterday evening following his interview on Morrisey’s new show ‘The Marty Squad’.

Brolly was highly critical of Derry’s tactics during their defeat of 14-man Down in Celtic Park yesterday afternoon. He questioned Brian McIver’s negative tactics and why the Oak Leaf county failed to cut loose when they were four points ahead of Down with a man advantage.

“It’s the culture of Derry football. I’ve been at all the league games and this is the way we play. The problem with it is that it’s self-defeating in the end and you’ll notice, and I think neutrals were saying this to me after the game, that Derry never look up, we never look up” he said.

When you’ve got a footballer that’s so electrifying as Eoin Bradley, and who looked absolutely devastating at times today on the very few occasions he got the ball, eventually in pure frustration he came out around the midfield.

“This team is coached to play in a very defensive way but beyond that there’s no plan. It’s keep the score down, stay in the game, I would say we kicked the ball backwards on about 25 occasions, after Down had the man sent off nothing changed.”

A last minute Eoin Bradley free saw Derry prevail with a one-point winning margin and Down will play the losers of Westmeath v Wexford in round 1A of the qualifiers while Derry await the winners of Armagh v Donegal in the Ulster semi-final.

Here’s the All-Ireland football qualifier first round draw

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