Joe Brolly may have gone a little over the top in his condemnation of Sean Cavanagh at the weekend but he revealed on Ireland AM this morning that he rang Cavanagh to apologise and that Cavanagh accepted and now all is right with the world.
In a rant that went viral and that you’ve surely seen or at least heard about at this stage, Brolly attacked Cavanagh directly during a tirade about cynical fouling in Gaelic Football, saying that ‘you can forget about Sean Cavanagh as a man’ following a rugby tackle on Conor McManus that denied the Monaghan sharpshooter a clear goalscoring opportunity in Croke Park on Saturday night.
While plenty of observers agreed with the sentiment behind Brolly’s comments, it was universally acknowledged that he went too far in questioning the character of Cavanagh, one of the greatest footballers of the modern era and a man who has been on fire for the Red Handers in recent weeks.
Appearing on Ireland AM on TV3 this morning to speak about the ‘Opt for Life’ campaign at which he has tirelessly and commendably helped to promote in recent months, Brolly also revealed that he had called Cavanagh to apologise for the attack on his character, something he admitted he hadn’t remembered saying during his ferocious rant on live television at the weekend.
Commenting on it this morning, Brolly stuck by his guns as far as cynical fouling is concerned and the effect it is having right throughout the game but he did row back on his personal attack on Cavanagh, saying: “I spoke to Sean yesterday and apologised to Sean for one line, which I hadn’t realised I said at the time. About ‘you can forget about him as a man’. What I meant obviously was as a man and how he conducts himself on the field. But it’s nothing to do with his private life.”
You can hear Brolly’s comments in full via this link on the TV3 website, including his admission that he and Cavanagh discussed Mayo, Tyrone’s opponents in the All-Ireland semi-final; skip ahead to 8:15 to hear him talk about his apology to Cavanagh and, almost a week on, what he now thinks of what will go down as one of his most famous rants… and that’s saying something.
Thanks to Tommy Martin and TV3 for their help with this one
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