JOE BROLLY has urged Derry GAA to “do the right thing” by getting rid of Mickey Harte.
The Oak Leafers’ season came to an end at the weekend when they were beaten by Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
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It is the culmination of a tumultuous year for Harte, who took over as manager last year.
While they started the year by winning the McKenna Cup and Division 1 league title, the proverbial wheels fell off in the championship.
Their defence of the Ulster title came to an end at the first hurdle with a loss to Donegal, while their Sam Maguire campaign started with defeats to Galway and Armagh.
They saved themselves by beating Westmeath to advance to the preliminary quarter-finals, in which they beat Mayo on penalties.
Speaking on his Free State Podcast, Joe Brolly – who has been critical of the decision to hire Harte – called for his home county to change things in the off-season.
He said: “I do not expect Mickey to do the decent thing. I don’t think it is in his nature.
“The Derry board need to step in now, do what’s right and bring an end to this agony, because that’s really what it’s been.
“It’s been absolute agony, and it’s alright, I have been there and done it, I’m happy with my Derry-ness and my loyalty to Derry.
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“But what about our boys who are out there, in the most important years of their career?
“Their careers are being flushed down the toilet by a fellow who hasn’t a clue abut how to play in the modern game, whose almost every decision has been catastrophic, and has seen the team serially humiliated.”
Harte himself admitted that the way Derry’s season ended was a disappointment.
However, the former All-Ireland-winning Tyrone manager hinted he will stay on into 2025.
He said: “Thank God I am able to leave things down. I will be hugely disappointed and forever there will be a degree of disappointment in the days that you lose and believe that you could do better.
“So yes, I’ll always be disappointed about that result and that outcome. But I’m pretty much an optimistic person and I look ahead. The past can’t be changed.
“We can try to do something different for the future. And I take life on a day-to-day basis like that.
“Obviously, if you win Division One of the league, that’s something to be happy about. Disappointing in Ulster in the Championship, disappointing in the round-robin games.
“But the fact that we survived to reach a quarter-final here today, I suppose, makes it reasonable as well. But obviously, highly disappointing.
“We did intend to be back for a few more games here, at least one, maybe two, and that’s not happening.
“And that’s very disappointing because it’s a long time until the beginning of the new season and it looks so far away now for everybody involved.
“But that’s life and sport now. It’s going to be over in the first half of the year.”
