Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Darragh Culhane

Inside Pat Spillane's most explosive rants as legendary pundit leaves the Sunday Game

Pat Spillane will leave the Sunday Game this weekend after a memorable stint on the flagship GAA show.

The Kerry legend provided great entertainment over the last 30 years and was part of the notorious trio alongside Colm O'Rourke.

Spillane is also among the most decorated players in GAA history having won some eight All-Ireland titles during his time.

READ MORE: Check out our GAA section

But while he departs our screens, Spillane will leave with plenty of memorable moments.

Here are just a few.

Heated debate with Sean Cavanagh in 2021

Spillane and Tyrone legend Sean Cavanagh got into it ahead of last year's semi-final.

The pair were discussing a Covid-19 outbreak in the Tyrone squad, which resulted in the semi-final being pushed back two weeks.

Spillane was furious at what he called a 'vaccum of information' regarding the outbreak, saying that people were angry because they didn't know the facts.

He said: "You talk about anger and you talk about people not knowing facts, of course people don't know facts because no one has told us anything.

"When you have a vaccum of information as there was from the Tyrone camp. There was a vaccum of information.

"Into that vaccum comes misinformation, false naratives, innuendo and that's what you got.

"I still have so many questions. I'm curious why did so many people at the one time in the Tyrone camp get Covid? Did close contacts come to the Ulster final? Did close contacts go to the socialising event

"

Puke Football

Spillane really shot to punditry shame when he took aim at Tyrone in 2003.

Mickey Harte's side shocked the Kingdom in 2003 en route to All-Ireland victory and Spillane branded their style of play as 'puke football'

The Kerry legend would go on to apologise for his remark while appearing on coverage last year.

He said: "I'm sorry for saying that, and I have apologised publicly on telly for saying that, I shouldn't have said it, I was wrong, and I'll tell you why I was wrong.

"Because it was used as a stick to beat that Tyrone team of the time, and I will say this about that Tyrone team, and I've said it before, it's not because of Sean.

"A brilliant team, play some of the best football I've ever seen, of any team in the modern era, and as regards individual players - up there with the greatest.

"I do sincerely apologise."

Joe Brolly clash

Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane clashes about the performances of Colm Cooper with the Derry legend upsetting Kerry supporters by calling Cooper a 'choker'.

Brolly would go on to explain and defend himself on RTE's coverage but Spillane still took exception.

Spillane retorted: "There are two types of people in this world, there are those who don't know and that's me and there are there are people who don't know what they don't know and sometimes Joe falls into that category."

Tinder reference

Pat Spillane mentioning Tinder is not what many people were expecting when they sat down to watch the Ulster final on Saturday afternoon.

The pundit referenced the dating app prior to the meeting of Monaghan and Tyrone at Croke Park on RTE's coverage.

Speaking to Joanne Cantwell about Ulster football, Spillane said: “If Tinder was the Ulster championship I’d be definitely be swiping right.”

READ NEXT:

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.