A former All-Ireland winning hurler told a court yesterday that he was “absolutely mortified” when a Tesco employee accused him of trying to buy a bottle of wine for a minor.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Patrick Moroney is suing the retailer for defamation at its store at Ardacrusha, Corbally, on November 28th, 2010.
Mr Moroney went to buy a bottle of wine after his girlfriend, Claire Hayes (then 25), had been refused alcohol after she failed to produce an ID. In evidence yesterday, Mr Moroney said: “I was trying to explain to the lady at the counter that I was 31 years of age, Claire was 25. The woman, Anne Devlin, told me: ‘I am not serving you, you are purchasing the wine for an under 18-year-old. You might as well be buying it for the children on the street’.”
Ms Devlin denies this. After legal submissions, Judge Donagh McDonagh said he would give his judgment today.