A son of GAA All-Ireland winner Ross Carr has gone on trial for causing grievous bodily harm after he struck an opponent during an "ill tempered" derby game.
The Newry Crown Court jury heard that while it is the prosecution case that Charlie Carr (24) lashed out in an “unprovoked” assault during a match between Clonduff and Kilcoo, the defence argue that he did so in self defence and in the face of alleged “vile” verbal abuse.
Mr Carr, from Main Street in Hilltown, faces a single charge of causing grievous bodily harm to James John McLaughlin on May 25 last year.
Giving evidence, Dr. McLaughlin, who was playing as a sweeper for Kilcoo, said the first interaction he had with mR Carr was “as he was running past me he hit me a punch in the lower back....like a wee rabbit punch.”
Following on from that, he claimed he saw Mr Carr hit one of his team mates.
After a verbal exchange between the pair, Dr McLaughlin says Mr Carr punched him over his left eye with "significant force."
He said he was knocked to the ground where “I think I lost consciousness for a millisecond to a second.”
Under cross examination, Dr McLaughlin denied a suggestion that “you are a player who does specialise in ... intimidation and have a reputation accordingly for that.”
He also refuted the lawyer’s further suggestion that he had been repeatedly punching Mr Carr in the back, made a derogatory remark about his mother and suggested that Mr Carr was only on the team because of his father.
The trial continues on Monday.