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Stephen Hunt chastises Eamon Dunphy for "ridiculous" Glenn Whelan remarks

Eamon Dunphy came up as a subject in some of Friday morning's sports pages. The former Ireland in...



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Stephen Hunt chastises Eamon Dunphy for "ridiculous" Glenn Whelan remarks

Eamon Dunphy came up as a subject in some of Friday morning's sports pages.

The former Ireland international and soccer pundit featured in a story on The Irish Daily Star, titled 'Dunphy Blasts Whelan'. As in, Ireland's veteran midfielder Glenn Whelan.

The tenor of the story is Dunphy criticising Whelan for an interview he gave to RTE in which he "revealed that he had stopped talking to the media because of Dunphy's criticism" of a past Irish performance.

Whelan's former Ireland team-mate Stephen Hunt joined us for the Friday edition of the OTB AM look-through of the papers.

And he also had his say on Dunphy's remarks. Needless to say, Hunt was unimpressed.

"He's getting a bit of air-time this morning. I'm not happy giving it to him but his comments are ridiculous," he said.

"Glenn's come out and given a constructive interview... and then [Dunphy] comes back and has a go. Are we surprised? No. Are we disappointed? Yes."

A previous quote from Hunt when he once called Dunphy a "skinny little rat" also came up. Hunt addressed that.

"It was winding me up"

"He wasn't actually having a go at me at the time," said the ex-Reading and Wolves player-turned agent.

"But I remember him having a pop at some players and it was winding me up. So I let fly one time after a game."

He also explained how he and Ireland team-mates dealt with criticism from the former RTE pundit.

"He was constantly having a go at players. If it was constructive, you could say, Fair enough'. But it wasn't. It was mean and it was horrible. A bit to get the limelight of course," he said.

"He was huge in Ireland. [His comments] were banter on the bus. 'Oh, look at that, he's had a pop at  you, he's had a pop at you! What are you thinking? Are you going to say anything?'

"Most players would say, 'I'm going to let it go'. And then they get into an interview room and somebody just dials it up and then they fire back at him. Hence, what I did I think."

You can watch the full OTB AM Papers segment, including Hunt's thoughts on Eamon Dunphy, above via YouTube.


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