Alan Quinlan spoke about the pressures of giving his opinion in the media on Tuesday’s OTB AM.
After former Offaly hurler Daithi Regan spoke about regretting coming out so strongly against his old side before their Joe McDonagh Cup clash, Quinlan said he understood Regan’s dilemma.
“I’ve often felt like that, that I want to get out of the media. After that, I was kind of considering saying ‘look I don’t need to be here.’ I just want to live a quiet life and I don't want to be part of the ‘picture’ and the limelight.”
Quinlan referred back to an occasion a number of years ago where he criticised Munster after a poor string of results.
“I took no pleasure out of it because I played for Munster for so long, I’ve lots of friends involved in the team and the association so I can understand that he [Daithi Regan] is now saying that this is not worth it.
“That particular time when I criticised Munster it was kind of like two fellas in a pub having a rant about their team. I forgot that there was a lot of people watching it and it took off,” Quinlan explained.
The former Munster player explained that it wasn't the pressure from the public that affected him and that it was those involved with Munster who he was more concerned with.
“You’re in a situation where sometimes people assume that you’re doing it for your own benefit but you’re not, you still want the team to do well.
“I had heated conversations with people who were involved at the time, I tried to say look it wasn’t anything personal and it just came out,” Quinlan said.
While Quinlan admitted it wasn’t easy coming out and criticising both the team and players he had previously played with, he felt that he and others in the media had the right to do so.
“If you passionately believe that you want things to be better and you feel that they’re wrong and that’s what I did at the time and I’m sure Daithi [Regan] does as well. He’s putting an awful lot of effort into his county behind the scenes, helping young players, coaching, stuff like that.
“He has the right to say it, doesn’t he? He’s put on the jersey before,” Quinlan said of Regan.
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