On Wednesday night, the Irish team attended an event at the Opera House in Cork.
This week, as they prepared for Euro 2016, Ireland were based just 20 minutes away at the Fota Island resort.
The evening was hosted by Today FM's Matt Cooper.
Nerves rattling. About to go on stage Cork Opera House 8pm. ⚽️⚽️⚽️😃😃😃
— Matt Cooper (@cooper_m) June 1, 2016
According to the Sunday Times, during a discussion on stage with Roy Keane and Martin O'Neill, the Ireland manager was asked about his and his assistant's trip to the Super Bowl earlier this year to see the Denver Broncos defeat the Carolina Panthers at the San Francisco 49ers' Levi's Stadium.
The two had agreed earlier in Ireland's Euro 2016 qualification campaign that should they make the finals, a trip to the Super Bowl would be their reward.
When asked about the trip on Wednesday night, O'Neill apparently made an unfortunate remark.
O'Neill's sense of humour is often a hard one to understand. He will regularly make a comment and then row back by clarifying that it was a joke.
It appears his quip on Wednesday had no one laughing, especially Matt Cooper who apparently quickly moved on to the next subject.
The Sunday Times report that the 64-year-old responded to Cooper's question by saying that 'in case anyone got the wrong impression, he and Keane weren't "queer"and had been accompanied by two other members of his back room staff, Steve Guppy and Steve Walford.'
An ill-advised remark from someone of O'Neill's vast experience.
Photo by David Maher/Sportsfile
