Fermanagh boss Pete McGrath to end RTÉ boycott after resolving row

Pete McGrath will end his boycott with RTÉ after Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Westmeath.

The Fermanagh boss refused to conduct interviews with the station after the county’s back-door wins over Antrim and Roscommon, in protest at comments made by Pat Spillane and Kevin McStay about Ryan McCluskey’s dismissal in the Ulster semi-final defeat to Monaghan.

McCluskey received a straight red card for a challenge which was brought to referee Pádraig O’Sullivan’s attention by an umpire.

McGrath described The Sunday Game’s analysis of the incident as “over the top”.

“I wasn’t happy at all with the comments regarding the sending off and I did not speak to them after the Antrim and Roscommon games, but it (the row) has been resolved,” he confirmed.

“I’ve since spoke to the Sunday Game editor (Paul Byrne) and explained my position. He said he understood it and he would speak to the two pundits who made the remarks. I said if you are going to act as a judiciary, then you should be looking at all the incidents and I thought that there were two Monaghan yellow cards which were, in my view, red cards. Not that I want to see anyone sent off, but the two tackles the Monaghan boys made were much worse and were potentially dangerous to the people who were on the receiving end. And then you look at what Ryan did... it was just an act of frustration.”

Fermanagh player Tomas Corrigan voiced annoyance over the lack of time given to their gutsy comeback against Roscommon on The Sunday Game, with fans also taking to social media to express outrage at the coverage.

McGrath admitted: “I have done some work in radio and TV and I do know the logistics difficulties they face, but there is no doubt it was the stand-out result of the day. It was one of the great comebacks of the championship season so far and I think they could have more of a deal of it.

“They talked more about Roscommon than Fermanagh, but at the end of the day we had won the game and I was in too good a form to be worried about TV coverage.”

McGrath admitted Fermanagh and Westmeath both dodged a bullet in drawing each other, instead of Cork, and will want to capitalise on their good fortune on Saturday night.

“I am glad it’s Westmeath rather than Cork, and I would safely say that Westmeath feel exactly the same.”