MEDIA COVERAGE OF the violence which marred the All-Ireland Junior Football semi-final should not be allowed to influence the GAA’s investigation, Derrytresk’s co-manager Paul Hughes said yesterday.
In an interview with TeamTalkMag website, Hughes said that both Derrytresk and Dromid Pearses will have to accept the Central Competitions Control Committee’s findings, including any punishments that may be handed down.
Derrytresk won Sunday’s semi-final in O’Moore Park by 1-10 to 0-07, but Dromid believe that the match should have been abandoned after a number of spectators in Derrytresk tracksuits jumped onto the pitch to get involved in a fight between players.
Yesterday, the CCCC met to begin their review of referee Francis Flynn’s report as well as video footage of the incident, which occurred shortly before half-time.
While members of the Tyrone GAA community are disappointed with the manner in which the incident has been reported, Hughes said, it was most important that the investigation is not affected by media narratives.
“We wouldn’t want the coverage to mask or influence the investigation that follows or indeed the perception of our club in the run-up to the final,” Hughes said.
There’s some residue of disappointment about the reporting but maybe more so among the people of the area about how some media outlets have told this story but that’s modern society, we can’t do anything about that.
Derrytresk play St Patrick’s Clonbur in the All-Ireland Junior Football Final on 12 February in Croke Park.
