KIERAN SHANNON: Kiernan comments highlight plight of Irish athletes

Before the Off the Ball team went off the air, Jerry Kiernan went off the wall on the show.

At least to GAA people he did. His comments about the fitness level of inter-county players and their slice of the Sports Council grant pie provoked widespread outrage, with some critics resorting to tackling the man and not the ball.

One media personality on Twitter described him as an “overhyped mediocrity” when people pointed out in Kiernan’s defence that he finished ninth in the 1984 Olympic marathon, an achievement our friend in Tweetland reckoned would hardly have been worth a mention in another country.