Galvin v Callan: The real reasons behind the spat

So what got Paul Galvin so riled up that he squared up to impersonator Oliver Callan in a Dublin pub last week? Now we know.

The Kerry footballer and self-styled fashion icon was the talk of the country last week after a bar-room brawl with the Nob Nation impersonator, which is currently the subject of an investigation by the Gardai.

So what got Paul so riled up in the first place? It had originally been thought that it was because Callan had made fun of Galvin and his supposed girlfriend, the once sizzling but now distinctly average Gráinne Seoige, but it turns out that it was Callan’s performance on the Saturday Night Show last weekend that so enraged the Kerryman.

In conversation with host Brendan O’Connor, Callan took the mick out of Galvin in the guise of openly gay presidential candidate David Norris, suggesting that Galvin might be playing for the same team as the flamboyant senator.

“But anyway, people wonder why he’s pretty good at fashion,” he said.

“Pretty clear to me, it’s all the years he spent in the closet.”

Galvin was watching the show at his parents’ home in Lixnaw in Kerry, sandwiched between his mother and father on the couch and said that he was mortified at Callan’s portrayal of him, even if it was satirical and tongue in cheek.

“He said he was watching the show with his parents and it was excruciating for him. He said he didn’t blame Brendan O’Connor, but thought it was a low blow from Oliver,” said a ‘well-placed RTE source’.

Callan holds no guilt for his merciless p*ss-take of Galvin, saying that he should man up and take the good-natured abuse with a pinch of salt.

“Paul Galvin is a rugged, tough, uncompromising footballer; he shouldn’t be taking my jokes seriously. Everyone knows he is not gay,” Callan told the Sunday Independent.

As for the row itself, he paints Galvin as the guilty party, saying that his eyes were popping out of his head and that he called him a “sneaky little c**t”.

“His eyes were popping out of his head,” he said.

“Initially I thought he was doing a funny performance, but it turns out he was serious. If it was handbags, it was definitely a Hermes, when it involves Paul Galvin!

“As he was passing I said ‘Hello, how are you doing?’ And I offered out my hand but he rebuked my handshake. His eyes were bulging and he called me a weasel and a sneaky little c**t.

“I looked over at the boys and their faces dropped. He challenged me to go down to the toilets with him to fight it out.”

Callan is willing to forgive and forget about what was a bizarre incident if Galvin apologises and the Kerry player is believed to have hired a legal team to “sort it out”.

“I don’t want this guy to be hauled over the coals; I’ve no huge gripe with him personally,” Callan added.

“But I do want to make the point that it’s not fair game for me to go into a bar and get jostled just because I was doing a sketch on someone. Then I’d have them all queuing up to have a go.

“Are the seven presidential candidates going to be next in line? Maybe with Michael D I’d have half a chance. I’ve no problem if they want to have banter and slag me off, but being physical is not on.

“It wasn’t exactly a fair fight either was it? It’s not a pretty place to be standing there with Paul Galvin’s eyes bulging out of you.”