Lawyers bid to resolve row between Galvin and satirist

LEGAL eagles have been drafted in to sort out the aftermath of a verbal row in a Dublin pub in which radio satirist Oliver Callan claims Kerry footballer Paul Galvin challenged him to a fight.

The bizarre incident last Wednesday night prompted speculation that a complaint might be made to gardaí over Galvin’s alleged threatening behaviour.

But it didn’t stop Callan having another pop at the sports star — as famed (but also mocked) for his fashion status as for his prowess on the field — in his Green Tea programme on Saturday morning.

He opened with a sketch that mimicked Galvin being upstaged by team-mate Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper as Kerry’s fashionista, followed by another in which the controversial player has difficulty getting anyone to go to the pub with him after Friday night’s GAA GPA All-Star awards.

Another referenced his reported relationship with broadcaster Gráinne Seoige, although both she and Galvin have said they are just friends, with him being named as recipient of the Gráinne Seoige’s Favourite Footballer of the Year award, as well as Silliest Trousers of the Year at the All-Star ceremony.

In a number of interviews reported at the weekend, the comic said he had offered to shake the Kerry man’s hand when their paths crossed at Kehoe’s pub in Dublin city centre last Wednesday. But he told reporters that Galvin instead rounded on him.

There are varying reports about the cause of the footballer’s anger, some saying it related to mention in the pub of Ms Seoige, although this is denied by Mr Callan, who had also broadcast a sketch about her and Galvin the previous weekend.

Another report suggests Mr Galvin had previously complained to RTÉ about the comedian’s jibes during a television appearance on The Saturday Night Show in March intimating that the footballer might be gay.

Over the weekend, Mr Callan is reported to have said he was challenged to go down to the toilets in the pub and sort it out during the altercation witnessed by the radio comic’s producer.

Mr Callan said both men’s lawyers have been talking and he does not wish to pursue things if Mr Galvin apologises.

“I’ve no personal gripe against him. Anything I’ve done on air with Green Tea has been for a joke,” the comedian told one newspaper.