The plight of Offaly hurling has resulted in an explosive exchange between the RTE pundits. Former Offaly hurler Michael Duignan has taken serious umbrage with a segment of Dónal Óg Cusack analysis during RTE's League Sunday.
Offaly were condemned to relegation to Divison 2A after their 2-14 to 1-16 loss to Carlow at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park. It prompted Cusack to put forward three reasons he believes Offaly have fallen so low.
The tradition, the size of the county and "some influential voices have not been helping the Offaly cause to stay with the trends and stay with the times."
Cusack did not name any pundit by name but referenced "voices."
Some of the loudest voices and maybe what you would consider the biggest influencers from Offaly over the last number of years, it always strikes me that be it innovation in the game or progression in the association, they always seem to be the voice of regression.
"I mean that if there have been tactical innovations, some of the loudest voices in Offaly were always resisting those tactical innovations."
Dónal Óg Cusack questions the hurling tradition in Offaly and has a go at some "voices of regression" within the county #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/tvXi7D5PI9
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 10, 2019
It was a point Duignan clearly took issue with, as he took to Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the show.
@DonalOgC supports Tom Humphries’s character & runs down people like me. Fair enough I suppose.
— Michael Duignan (@DuignanMichael) March 10, 2019
Duignan was referencing the fact that Dónal Óg Cusack gave a character reference for Tom Humphries, ahead of the trial that saw the sportswriter imprisoned for grooming and sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. In 2017, the Cork man left his roles as a selector for Clare and a board member of Sport Ireland after widespread outrage at the controversy.
