TYRONE County Board has condemned “all of the ugly scenes of unwarranted violence” that occurred in the course of the weekend’s club championship action, and offered its good wishes to “all players who incurred injuries - whether accidentally or otherwise”.
The county’s Competitions Control Committee (CCC) were last night awaiting the delivery of referees’ reports before deciding upon a course of action on a number of incidents that occurred.
The two most high-profile were the scenes that broke out in the IFC clash between Stewartstown and Strabane, and the injuries suffered by former Tyrone captain Sean Cavanagh in the Moy’s defeat by Edendork.
There were four red cards handed out when fighting broke out at the end of the intermediate clash in Healy Park, with substitutes emptying from the benches to become involved.
In The Moy’s game in Dungannon, Sean Cavanagh was left with serious facial injuries as a result of an incident in the first half.
The three-time All-Ireland winner had to undergo a CT scan on his head. The scan came back clear but Cavanagh did suffer a broken nose, a concussion, a damaged cheekbone and some scratching and bruising on his face.
Referee Kieran Eannetta, who handed out 27 cards over the course of the game including six reds (all for second bookable offences), was close to the incident and decided to take no action against the Edendork player involved.
Given that the referee felt no action was needed at the time, it seems unlikely that the incident will be referenced in his report beyond to note that Cavanagh suffered injuries and had to be treated on the pitch, and then substituted.
GAA referees are obliged to note any injuries for insurance purposes.
However, Tyrone CCC would have the power to open an investigation into the incident if they deemed that the video footage was compelling enough to indict the alleged transgressor.
All championship matches in Tyrone are videoed on behalf of the county board, and it’s understood that the county’s CCC have received a copy of the game.
However, despite requests to the county board, as of last night The Moy club had not yet received a copy of the footage.
The games are ordinarily made available to the clubs by the county board in the early part of the week after a championship game.
In a statement released yesterday evening, Tyrone county board said it wished to state “that all or any disciplinary action will be a matter of consideration by the Tyrone CCC and based on the referee's report plus examination of the video- recording of the games the matters arising will be dealt with in an urgent manner and following due process as stipulated in the Rules of the Association and the Official Guide the CCC will determine the relevant penalties.
It added: “We would wish to condemn all of the ugly scenes of unwarranted violence. We wish also to extend good wishes to all players who incurred injuries - whether accidentally or otherwise.”
