Singled out for his coverage of Mayo's emergency County Board meeting in early November, Eoin Sheahan took the opportunity to respond to the comments of Paul Cunnane, the county's recently reelected Public Relations Officer.
Returning Mayo GAA PRO Paul Cunnane used the occasion of his reelection to air certain grievances he had with Off the Ball's recent coverage of the county's travails with millionaire benefactor, Tim O'Leary.
"No one likes to see Mayo GAA in the headlines," reported The Mayo News of Cunnane's acceptance speech. "Ultimately it's not my name or the officers' name, it's Mayo GAA's name and no-one wants to see that in the headlines.
"We had an instance during the year where a radio broadcaster sent a reporter down to a meeting and made a mockery of Mayo GAA.
"I mean, how dare you do that to us. How dare you treat Mayo GAA like that."
Although Cunnane refrained from using Eoin Sheahan's name throughout, he acknowledged the subsequent emergence of a video report published on Twitter that had accrued upwards of 166,000 views.
You can watch the offending item in question here.
Speaking on Tuesday's OTB AM, Eoin Sheahan addressed the criticism.
"Controversy has surrounded Off the Ball this morning," he remarked at the close of Tuesday's show, "as we have been singled out by the Mayo County Board's Public Relations Officer for our coverage of last month's emergency County Board meeting.
"We would like to take this opportunity to seriously apologise to the Mayo PRO, Mayo GAA and the Mayo people in general for the disservice we have done to their great administration.
"Paul Cunnane, or Braveheart as his friends call him, delivered a rousing speech at their County Board Convention at the weekend."
Outlining the details of Cunnane's speech as noted above, Sheahan went on to note:
"The GAA's version of Marin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech, I'm sure you'll agree.
"Now, I'm not sure if I was the only journalist who got 166,000 views that night, but I was the only journalist there so I assume it was me he was referring to.
"I can only say that you and your county deserve an apology for me making a fool out of you - you deserve better.
"You are the man who played 'Shoe the Donkey' and 'Money, Money, Money' at half-time in the Underdogs game, and you deserve better.
"You are the man who was PRO of the County Board that banned media from attending an emergency County Board meeting and then didn't answer any questions afterwards, and you certainly deserve better.
"Congratulations on your reelection, the days of anyone making a fool out of you are well in the past.
"I am truly sorry, see you tomorrow morning."
"You deserve better, you are the man who played 'Shoo the Donkey' at half-time in the Underdogs game, you certainly deserve better" 😂@EoinSheahan addressed some criticism he received from the @MayoGAA PRO, Paul Cunnane (@p_cunnane) | #OTBAM pic.twitter.com/Vb9ytvYgbc
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) December 17, 2019
