David Gough has spoken about his phone call with Joe Brolly after the RTÉ pundit’s criticism of the referee’s All-Ireland final performance.
Brolly questioned Gough’s decisions to award Kerry a penalty and send-off Dublin’s Jonny Cooper in the first half of the drawn game.
Brolly claimed the Meath official had been “clearly influenced by the propaganda coming from Kerry” but changed his opinion on each decision the following week after a conversation with Gough.
Brolly has since been left out of RTÉ’s panel for their replay coverage tomorrow.
“That’s his business with another TV company,” Gough told the Six O’Clock Show, before addressing their chat.
“Joe picked up the phone and rang me during the week. We had a chat. He explained his viewpoint, I explained mine. He apologised. We got on with life.
We had a chat about various other different things and we’ll sit down and have a drink again when we see one another. There’s no fallout and we’re still as good friends as we always have been.
“He came to support the GAA’s march in Pride this year so Joe’s a good supporter of mine.”
Gough was under much scrutiny coming into the final after criticism of the GAA’s decision to select a Dublin-based referee by former Kerry players Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Aidan O’Mahony.
His performance was broadly well-received – outside the Sunday Game studio – and Gough revealed he had the help of a sports psychologist to get him through the build-up.
“I had spent the week beforehand with the sports psychologist who had prepared me for that moment. He just made it like any other game and I just couldn’t wait to get onto the pitch and throw the ball up.
“Everything else just fades into the background after that – the noise in the stadium, the full house – you don’t notice anything about it.
“You have 70 to 80 minutes of concentration. You see colours, numbers, jerseys, you don’t even recognise the players. I didn’t feel any pressure going in at all.”