Kildare man Carew launches stinging attack on Joe Brolly over his comments on McGeeney's time in charge of Kildare

Sligo manager Niall Carew has jumped to the defence of former Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney after well known GAA pundit Joe Brolly launched a stinging attack on the Armagh native two weeks ago.

Brolly, a pundit for RTÉ, was writing in the Sunday Independent for his weekly column when he complained about McGeeney's lack of skills in being able to accept that his players just weren't good enough in Kildare, and that his players that he currently manages in Armagh are well short of All-Ireland standard too.

He also severely criticized McGeeney's decision to call Seanie Johnston into the Kildare panel, implying that it sent out a message to the rest of the players saying; 'well lads, ye are shite'. McGeeney worked as Kildare manager for six years, and although he never claimed a Leinster title with the Lilywhites, his spell in charge was roundly praised for helping to make the county side among one of the top six in the country.

Carew, who served under McGeeney during his time in charge of Kildare, was writing in his own column for the Sligo Champion, and suggested that it was Kildare that let McGeeney down, and not the other way around.

“Joe embarked on another verbal assault on Kieran McGeeney and he has copied and pasted this article on more than one occasion,” says Carew in the Sligo Champion.

“So if you want, get onto Google and you will discover one man’s personal vendetta against another. I think I'm way more qualified than Joe Brolly or Pat Spillane or any of the other pundits and journalists that like to get personal and sometimes dirty, to really tell people who the real Kieran McGeeney is.

“When you read and listen to people that have never played or worked with him, it tends to be completely at odds with what those who have say. The detractors seem to be judging the book by its cover.

“Geezer ticks all the boxes, believe me. First and foremost he is the one we all want to go to war with. He is the most genuine man I have ever met and is the one I turn to on and off the field. I trust him with my life.

“When he arrived in Kildare in 2008, they were in a bad place. They couldn't get by the first round of the Leinster Championship and had the worst qualifier record going. He turned this around and Kildare qualified for five All-Ireland quarter-finals plus an All-Ireland semi-final. In that time, we got no luck and huge decisions went against us at the time which probably cost us an All-Ireland final appearance at the least.”

Carew said: “Brolly likes to twist things. So for him, the players were too afraid to make a mistake. We could have been more clinical but officials’ mistakes were the defining moments.

“Joe Brolly has always picked on Geezer (off the field and behind his laptop) and while Geezer doesn’t care, I can’t let it go any longer. When you strip it all away, he has never had a clue what goes on. But when you want to be sensational, you don’t need to worry about the truth or the facts. Or ask the people who worked with him.

“Johnny Doyle played under Geezer for six years. He wasted no time in making his thoughts on Brolly’s attack public on his Facebook page. What he says about the man carries much more relevance than what a self-serving self-promoter thinks.

“The thing with Kieran was that he was an excellent coach and mentor. He changed the way I thought about my game. He pushed me to a level of training and preparation that I never knew existed. It was a great time to be involved in football in Kildare. People say that Kieran failed with Kildare but I think we failed Kieran.

“When I think of the bullsh*t that Brolly wrote last week it turns my stomach. When it comes to Johnny Doyle or Joe Brolly, I know who I’d believe.”