Brolly says Tyrone were to blame

The Tyrone County Board have strenuously denied accusations made by former Derry footballer and RTÉ Sunday Game pundit Joe Brolly that their players instigated the violence during last Sunday's league game against Dublin in Omagh.

Brolly, speaking yesterday on Dublin radio station Newstalk 106FM, felt the three melees were not as serious as the initial media furore suggested. He also commended Dublin for beating Tyrone by employing a similar style to the All-Ireland champions.

"What really led to the needle was Dublin were getting the better of the exchanges," said Brolly. "Dublin have learned a lot from what happened to them last year. Paul Caffrey has clearly now sown the seeds of this defensive, counter-attacking system that Tyrone and Armagh have developed over the years.

"Tyrone found they were not getting away with what they got away with last year, which was creating a whole traffic jam in Dublin's attack but having no congestion at all through their (own) forwards. (But) Dublin were dropping their half forward line into defence and Tyrone had no space. Eventually they got frustrated."

Tyrone's first full-time administrator and county board secretary Dominick McCaughey had a different outlook on an affair that is expected to result in multiple suspensions.

"The whole situation could have been avoided if firmer decisions had been taken after the first outbreak of hostilities," said McCaughey. "I'm not blaming the referee but quicker action may have meant other people wouldn't have retaliated."

Brolly also accused Tyrone players of regularly diving to get opponents sent off. He said a Tyrone player going down started the row that led to Alan Brogan's dismissal.

In response to Mickey Harte's post-match analysis, when the Tyrone manager highlighted a respectable disciplinary record, Brolly said: "They never had any scruples about getting men sent off for no reason by lying down and clutching their face. So I don't listen to that sort of claptrap.

"They've got that super arrogant thing about them now - how dare you tackle me! - whenever the Dubs were putting it up to them and turning them over. Doing the Tyrone thing. They didn't like it one bit and the crowd were becoming increasingly anxious and upset about it. I must say I was delighted about the general Dublin performance."

McCaughey refused to reply to accusations of players diving but admitted the ugly scenes, televised live on TG4, are unacceptable.

"It wasn't the type of thing we would have expected. Last October we saw the similar scenes in the International Rules. Maybe that bad example has carried into our own game. I don't know. The players and officials are responsible for their own actions. I'm not taking away from it but we have seen this before. In recent times our record has been excellent."