Having provoked the ire of many people for what was considered to be a sexist and patronising article on women's rugby back in August, in the new issue of Hot Press (Hozier cover), Niamh Horan confesses her bafflement at the ensuing uproar.
"I was genuinely baffled," the Sunday Independent journalist laughs, in conversation with Olaf Tyaransen.
"I remember sitting in a pub and seeing all the messages coming through and thinking, 'That’s gas!' There was literally hundreds and hundreds. I put it away to just enjoy my night. The next morning the radio stations were ringing. I still don’t get it...
"I still don’t know what wound people up," the 31-year-old continues. "The thing that annoys me is when people go, 'Oh, you’re just doing it for click-bait and to get people talking.' If you could bottle that your job would be easy. I didn’t put as much thought into that article as I did other articles I’d written that week. Maybe I spent twenty minutes writing it."
For more with Horan, who talks childhood bullying, being threatened with a broken bottle and more, pick up the current issue of Hot Press, on sale now.