PAT SPILLANE somewhat bizarrely implied that if the Ulster football championship was on Tinder, he would swipe right.
He was speaking in the build-up to the Ulster final clash between Tyrone and Monaghan on Saturday afternoon, and was the latest in a line of his analytical metaphors involving the popular dating app.
So far this year, the Ulster championship has been the highlight of what have been laborious provincial campaigns.
The northern province has served up some spectacular contests, including Donegal’s extraordinary win over Derry in the quarter-finals, and Monaghan’s emotionally fueled beating of Armagh in the semi-finals.
Looking ahead to the final, Spillane expressed his admiration for the Ulster championship in quite the eye-catching way.
He said: “My love in with the Ulster championship continues.
TINDER GOLD
“The best three matches we have got out of the championship this year have come out of the Ulster championship, and do you know what I was thinking?
“If Tinder did provincial champions [sic], I would be swiping right on Ulster.”
The remark led to a humorous exchange with host Joanne Cantwell, who said: “I think all you are doing is looking to trend on Twitter every single weekend.”
When Spillane responded by pointing out that he was not on Twitter, Cantwell quipped: “I think you’ll find you regularly are.”
This is not the first time that Pat Spillane has used the dating app as the base for an analogy in the context of the Ulster championship.
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Last March, he said of Donegal’s hammering of Monaghan in that year’s national league: “If there was a Tinder version for Gaelic football, you’d have been swiping left.”
His latest Tinder-based analysis has drawn suitable reaction on social media, with one Twitter user sharing a screenshot of the ‘Trending in Ireland’ section which boasted Spillane’s name.
The user captioned the reply with: “Finger on the pulse Joanne, he’s trending yet again!”