RTÉ defends Brolly's pundit role

RTÉ has responded to criticisms of its GAA coverage by Mayo manager James Horan, who at the weekend reiterated his unhappiness with comments made by Sunday Game pundit Joe Brolly in the week before last year’s All-Ireland final between the county and Donegal.

Horan accused Brolly of selectivity for remarks he made on Pat Kenny’s RTE radio programme, drawing attention to the number of tactical fouls committed by Mayo in the semi-final against Dublin.

The issue emerged surprisingly, three months after the final, in an interview with Horan in a local newspaper and has been batted back and forth since by Brolly and the Mayo manager.

In a short, conciliatory statement on the issue an RTÉ spokesperson defended Brolly’s role with the broadcaster.

“Joe Brolly is retained as a Gaelic games analyst across programming to give his opinions. They may not always be shared by everyone in the audience or within the GAA but he is entitled to have those opinions.

“We have had a very good relationship with Mayo GAA and James Horan in 2012 and look forward to that continuing this year.”

In another RTÉ-related development yesterday it was announced that Marty Morrissey had been appointed one of the station’s Gaelic Games Correspondents.

The well-known broadcaster from Clare had in recent months been broadening his work on the radio beyond sports to take in deputising stints on Countrywide and The Mooney Show but the new appointment takes him back to the sphere of the GAA where he has been best known over the past 20 years.

Although there has been no designation and it is expected that he will work across the platforms, it is expected Morrissey will handle RTÉ’s daily GAA television output with the station’s other Gaelic Games correspondent Brian Carthy continuing to be the principal radio presence.

The new appointment fills a vacancy of nearly three years duration since Jonathan Mullin’s departure in February 2010.