John Delaney broke down in tears on the Pat Kenny show on Newstalk this morning, when speaking about the online abuse aimed at his girlfriend Emma English.
He said 'it's very hard as a man to protect your woman from cyberbullying. It's all done through pseudonyms... I've seen how distressed she's been over the last number of days...' before choking up over the phone.
He apologised to anyone who took offence to his filmed rendition of Joe McDonnell last Tuesday.
However, he pointed out that the Irish football team sing 'Sean South From Garryowen' on the way to matches (Jack Charlton was criticised for this in 1993 in by Tory MP Teddy Taylor). He said they didn't believe in the words of the song, but said it was simply a tune to get you motivated.
The English media have picked up the story, with the Telegraph, a paper regarded as traditionally unsympathetic to Irish nationalism, leading with the headline 'Irish football chief sparks controversy by singing pro-IRA song'.
