THE MANAGER OF Kerry club Dromid Pearses has vowed never to go another GAA match unless officials take decisive action to punish Sunday’s brawl in Portlaoise.
Michael Anthony O’Connell called last night for Derrytresk of Tyrone to be thrown out of the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship after video footage of the punch-up in O’Moore Park surfaced yesterday.
Chaos erupted shortly before half-time in the championship semi-final when a number of spectators wearing Derrytresk club tracksuits, believed to be substitutes and supporters, jumped onto the pitch and waded into a fight between players.
Dromid midfielder Thomas Curran was left concussed and had to leave the game while Denis “Shine” O’Sullivan had a cheekbone fractured. Star Kerry forward Declan O’Sullivan was also reportedly struck by a handbag.
When the game finally resumed, Derrytresk went on to claim a 1-10 to 0-07 victory, sealing their spot in next month’s final.
The GAA said yesterday that they are waiting to receive the referee’s report before deciding what action to take, if any.
But an official fixture list appeared to confirm that Derrytresk will meet St Patrick’s, Clonbur in Croke Park on 12 February, despite Dromid’s calls for the Tyrone side to be stripped of their place in the competition.
“I don’t think I will ever go to a football game again if they are not thrown out. The GAA has to make a stand now,” O’Connell told this morning’s Irish Independent.
There were kids crying in the stand, frightened by what was going on. How do you expect kids to go to football games when this happens?
Derrytresk broke their silence on Sunday’s violence last night, expressing disappointment that the fall-out from the row had been played out through the media.
“It is disturbing to be on the receiving end of a number of quite serious allegations which have been aimed directly at our club since yesterday afternoon,” a statement released to GAA website TeamTalkMag said. “We believe that the referee and his officials were best placed to deal with all aspects of Sunday’s game.”
Derrytresk will make no further comment on the incident.
The statement in full read (via TeamTalkMag):
The Derrytresk club are delighted to have made it through to this year’s All Ireland Junior Football Championship club final. Our players thoroughly deserve to be there after all of the hard work that they put in over the last twelve months.It is disturbing to be on the receiving end of a number of quite serious allegations which have been aimed directly at our club since yesterday afternoon. We are disappointed that such allegations have been aired by GAA people through various media outlets over the last 24 hours.
We believe that the referee and his officials were best placed to deal with all aspects of Sunday’s game. We remain confident that the GAA itself is best placed to provide the correct channels to deal with all matters which may or may not arise from this game.
We therefore we will be making no further comment on the matter and will continue to prepare for the biggest day in our club history.
