RTÉ pundit apologises for Cavanagh comment

RTÉ GAA pundit Joe Brolly apologised to Sean Cavanagh yesterday for one particular line in his live TV outburst about the Tyrone midfielder's tackle on Conor McManus during last Saturday's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.

Brolly was hugely critical of the 'cynical' tactics employed by Tyrone during their 0-14 to 0-12 victory over Monaghan at Croke Park, with Cavanagh and manager Mickey Harte both prominent in the Derry man's tirade.

The debate has raged on this week about Tyrone talisman Cavanagh's "rugby tackle" challenge on McManus as the Monaghan forward bore down on goal in the 49th minute.

The midfielder's blatantly obvious foul earned him a yellow card and denied the Farney men a probable goal-scoring opportunity.

A visibly angry Brolly condemned Cavanagh's actions after the game, saying that he wants "nothing to do with that" and that it is "an absolute disgrace".

He got personal when stating: "He's a brilliant footballer but you can forget about Sean Cavanagh as far as he's a man. Nobody has stood up for Tyrone more during the 2000s, but that's an absolute disgrace. I'll not be standing up for that.

"What he did there tonight was a total and absolute obscenity. They (Tyrone) are becoming a template for teams and clubs all over the country now. The euphemism for cheating is closing the game out. Just let them play rugby league."

But although Brolly still stands by his criticism of the tackle and Tyrone's cynical fouling, he told TV3's 'Ireland AM' programme today that he has since apologised to Cavanagh for one of his comments that he now admits was 'most unfair'.

"I rang Sean yesterday," said the former Derry forward who works as a barrister.

"I meant everything that I said - everything that I said - and you know it is a cancer in the game and it's destroying the spirit of the game, it's permeating through to underage levels and all of that

"But 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."

Brolly said that Cavanagh had accepted his apology and that the pair went on to discuss Tyrone's semi-final opponents Mayo during the call.

"We spent half-an-hour talking about the pros and cons of Mayo, but that part of it… I meant everything I said but I didn't mean to impute anything about his private life.

"It was most unfair and I appreciated that when I looked at it again, so fair is fair and he was very gracious about accepting it. But I did say: 'For Christ's sake will you stop this!'"

Brolly's main purpose on the show was to discuss his 'Opt for Life' organ donor campaign.

He appeared alongside his friend and fellow St. Brigid's underage coach Shane Finnegan whom he donated a kidney to last year.