GAA icon rekindles war of words with Johnny Sexton as Andy Farrell also falls victim to his latest barb

PAT SPILLANE used his end of year GAA ‘Oscars’ to reaffirm his point about how Ireland’s Rugby World Cup campaign has been presented.

The Kerry GAA icon feels it’s been overly celebrated as a gallant loss with too much emphasis on the gallant nature of Ireland’s defeat to New Zealand and not enough on the ‘loss’ part.

He again nosed his criticism on Johnny Sexton’s farewell statement in which he was irked by its closing line.

The Leinster legend had reflected on a goal they’d had beyond the black and white nature of winning and losing.

He’d closed out the emotional career recap: “Four years ago we sat down as a squad and spoke about what we wanted to achieve.

“Our main motivation and objective was to inspire the nation. I think we achieved that. We lost, but we won.”

The 68-year-old initially labelled it ‘pure gobbledygook’ in his Sunday World column.

And he clearly hasn’t softened in his view over the festive period.

In its latest edition, he introduced his ‘Tops and flops of GAA world of 2023’ with the following:

“In theory, this should be straightforward because to quote one of Abba’s hit songs ‘The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall.’

“But the rules have changed this year in the wake of Johnny Sexton’s ‘we lost but we won’ definition of Ireland’s failure yet again to advance past the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup.

“And we had evidence to this new trend during the RTÉ sports awards before Christmas.

“Andy Farrell, who failed to guide the number one ranked team in the world to the last four in the World Cup, was named Manager of the Year.

“I’m confused, to put it mildly. So, apologies in advance because I’m a traditionalist and I hand out awards to winners only.​”

SPLIT RUGBY COUNTRY

It’s a view shared by many as while Ireland winning a Six Nations Grand Slam was still a rare achievement, ultimately the year did end on a bitter downer.

While this exit from the World Cup at the hands of the All Blacks wasn’t nearly as ignominious as 2019’s 46-16 demolition, pangs of regret will remain long into 2024 and beyond.

Across the board the side faltered out of the gate which ensured the three-time winners were always around ten points ahead on the scoreline.

And while they did produce a massive effort in the second half tha