[BYLINE1]IAN O'RIORDAN
[/BYLINE1]
Croke Park may be forced to investigate the alleged spitting incident that has emerged in the aftermath of last month's All-Ireland intermediate club football final after Kerry's Paul Galvin has said that he can "100 per cent confirm for the record that I was spat on during the game".
Galvin’s club Finuge lost out to Tyrone champions Cookstown, 1-9 to 0-6, in a typically tense contest in Croke Park, back on February 9th, although the allegations of spitting only emerged over the weekend after video footage surfaced on YouTube.
A Cookstown player does appear to spit at Galvin in the course of the game, with Galvin at least gesturing as such: however, former Tyrone star and Cookstown captain Owen Mulligan also spoke out earlier this week, defending the actions of his club, and in fact claiming they were the victims of “sick and vile sectarian abuse”.
This has prompted Galvin to issue a statement, through his own website, distancing himself from any such claims of verbal abuse, and while maintaining his respect for Tyrone football, admits too that “the bitterness and rancour that currently exists” between the counties disappoints him. Finuge did have two players sent off during the course of the game, although Galvin makes no excuses for the result.
He begins by saying “I would like to 100 per cent confirm for the record that I was spat on during the game” – and then adds: “Furthermore I will utterly and unequivocally distance myself from claims made regarding verbal abuse during the game. That I have to defend myself or clarify my position in this regard is as disappointing as it is wrong.
“I will also add that I made no comment or complaint, publicly or privately, at the time of the incident, as when the game finishes it is finished in my view and I have no interest in dragging this matter out. I am only doing so now as footage of the incident found its way into the public domain and for some reason I have been forced to confirm what I know to have happened.”
Galvin then concluded: “I would like to congratulate Cookstown on their victory. I have played in 12 All-Ireland finals in both codes, winning eight, and this is one All-Ireland I can live without.
“Tyrone football is full of men I admire greatly, men like Mickey Harte and Peter Canavan, who when I was 16 years old sought me out after a schools game against Cookstown and told me ‘you’ll play for your county one day son’.
“Those words inspired me many times growing up. The path that the Kerry/Tyrone rivalry has taken of late disappoints me.
“Both counties are better than the bitterness and rancour that currently exists.”
It drags the spitting allegations deeper into the spotlight, with GAA president Liam O’Neill earlier this week expressing his “abhorrence” at an another alleged incident of spitting, after Leitrim footballer Emlyn Mulligan claimed he was spat on by an Offaly opponent during Sunday’s Division Four game.
Last week, following the division one game between Tyrone and Donegal in Omagh, reports emerged that Donegal defender Karl Lacey, watching the game form the sideline, was also allegedly spat at by a member of the opposing supporters.
[CROSSHEAD]Lesser stage[/CROSSHEAD]
Meanwhile, Galvin's former team-mate Darragh Ó Sé might well have preferred a lesser stage for his first main role in football management, as he brings his Kerry under-21 team to Cork for this evening's Munster quarter-final – which has a 7.30 throw in at Páirc Uí Rinn.
A repeat of last year's Munster final, which Cork won, Kerry find themselves under greater pressure to deliver a performance this time, given the poor form of the seniors.
Ó Sé does have several survivors from last year's starting 15, including Fearghal McNamara, Pa Kilkenny, James Walsh, Chris Brady and Conor Cox, but so too do Cork, who in fact have named eight members of their winning team from 2012: Damien Cahalane, Alan Cronin, Tom Clancy, Jamie Wall, Mark Sugrue, John O’Rourke, Luke Connolly and Brian Hurley all started, while Alan Cadogan, Dan MacEoin and Brian O’Driscoll came on as subs.
