‘Mortified' Eamon Dunphy admits viral RTE punditry moment was ‘sackable offence' that was ‘horrendous thing to say'
EAMON DUNPHY admitted his infamous rant about Rod Liddle should have been a "sacking offence".
The outspoken Dubliner unforgettably referred to the journalist as "the guy who ran away and left his wife for a young one" on live RTE TV.
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Eamon Dunphy infamously referred to Rod Liddle as 'the guy who ran away and left his wife for a young one'
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He admitted it should have been a sacking offence
Credit: Cody Glenn / SPORTSFILE
It came amid a debate with host Bill O'Herlihy following Roy Keane's acrimonious Manchester United exit in 2005, with Dunphy leaping to the Corkman's defence.
The late great O'Herlihy referred to an article written by Liddle about Keane, which prompted the Dunphy outburst.
Seventeen years later, the former pundit considers it among his biggest career regrets, calling it "horrendous".
Speaking to The Irish Mirror on his 80th birthday, he said: 'It was a horrendous thing to say (live on air). That was insane.
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'I apologised to Rod on Liveline. He accepted my apology.
'I was mortified at myself."
Dunphy revealed he met Liddle years later, with the journalist responding to the jibe with aplomb.
He added: 'I spoke to him in the not too distant past. He said 'by the way that young one I ran off with, I married her and we are still together'.
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'That was a sacking offence but I wasn't sacked.'
Since leaving RTE in 2018, Dunphy has maintained his role as an opinionated analyst of the beautiful game through his Mirror columns.
Irish comedian Gary Cooke blows fans away with musical impression of Eamon Dunphy
In recent times, Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has been on the receiving end of his tirades.
However, he seemed to have changed his tune after Ireland drew 1-1 with Senegal at the start of June.
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They had taken the lead through Kasey McAteer before Ismaila Sarr's late equaliser.
It could have been more, with Hallgrimsson suggesting VAR would have disallowed the equaliser had it been in place due to a Senegalese player being in Caoimhin Kelleher's eye-line from an offside position.
Eamon Dunphy has been a vocal critic of Hallgrimsson, claiming he was "out of his depth" back in March after the Nations League relegation play-off win over Bulgaria.
But after the draw, he praised the Icelander for making Ireland hard to beat against a side ranked 19th in the world.
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Writing for the Irish Mirror, he said: "Let's give praise where it is due: Ireland were hard to play against last night.
"They were easy on the eye, too, and easy to like, producing a display that reminded you of everything we like to pride ourselves on as a football nation."
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