Gardaí have confirmed that they are not investigating the brawl which took place in Croke Park on Sunday afternoon following the conclusion of normal time in Galway’s win over Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
The result went on to be decided by a penalty shootout but with the sides level at full-time, violent scenes erupted between the teams involving both players on the pitch and seemingly some in the wider panel who were not playing.
In an incident that has sparked widespread outrage, video footage appeared to show Galway’s Damien Comer being eye-gouged.
A garda spokesperson confirmed in a statement that “no complaint has been made to An Garda Síochána, at this time.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Sport Catherine Martin described the scenes at Sunday’s game as “shocking” and “despicable”.
Mr Martin said: “It was a shocking scene. It was a great game of football and awful that it was marred by what transpired at the end of the game.”
He said the GAA will deal with the matter through its own procedures and said: “there is no room for that in any sport.”
Mr Martin added: “particularly when young people are watching their heroes on the football or hurling or soccer fields, they don’t need to see this type of behaviour... it’s quite disturbing to see and quite concerning.”
The Green Party minister for sport Ms Martin said: “I was shocked at those appalling scenes yesterday”.
She said: “teams and players need to be mindful that they are role models for our young and there is no place for violence in sport.
“I would hope that whatever disciplinary procedures take place that it will be it will send a clear signal that that sort of behaviour is not to be repeated.”
She said the alleged eye-gouging was “absolutely appalling stuff”
Ms Martin also said: “Young families go to these games...
“I know a five-year-old who was at that match yesterday shows up that - a first time experience.”
She said they should have come home remembering and “edge of the seat” match but “instead they see sport players behaving like that and it’s despicable.
Earlier on Monday, GAA president Liam O’Neill said that the sport needs to “tidy up its act” by limiting the number of people allowed on the sideline and in the changing room during matches.
O’Neill, who served as president in a three-year stint between 2012-2015, referenced his efforts to reduce numbers on the sidelines in a bid to defuse tense situations.
“In my time as president I made a huge effort to clear the sidelines down to one manager and one runner,” he said on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland. “That’s more than enough.
“We had a situation in Croke Park on Sunday where we had excellent dressing rooms on both sides of the field. We could have used one for either team and avoided this.
“People say it’s the same around the country. It’s not. In Portlaoise we have two dressing rooms and the players come out of either end of the same stand. There’s never a difficulty.
“Admittedly it was a response to a situation that developed but we solved it and Croke Park really have to get to grips with this.
“There is no need for the extended panels to go into the dressing rooms at half-time. What do they contribute in there anyway?
“We should have people sitting in the stands and have the managers and selectors in the dressing rooms with their players.
“It’d be much tidier and we wouldn’t have had the situation we had on Sunday.”
Once the fracas died down, referee David Coldrick decided to issue a red card to a player from either side.
Galway captain Seán Kelly and Armagh joint-captain Aidan Nugent were dismissed before extra-time began, but in a quirk of the GAA rulebook, both could be replaced before the start of the extra period. Neither side was at a numerical disadvantage despite the actions of players.
[ Quarter-final with everything leaves Armagh with nothing as Galway progressOpens in new window ]
Plenty have pointed out after the fact that the two who saw red were actually attempting to break up the meleé, leading to a widespread lack of confidence in how the GAA deals with unsavoury incidents.
O’Neill suggested better ways of dealing with brawls on the spot rather than coming back to them later with bans.
“We should move to a situation where penalties are imposed on the day,” he said.
“We had that at one stage where the black card lasted for an entire game, that meant people weren’t doing the sort of things they’re doing now. We have to get back to that.
“We can’t legislate for everything that happens but the responsibility for sports administrators is how we handle those situations when they develop.
“It’s up to us to address what happened on Sunday and make sure it simply doesn’t happen again.”
The GAA have said that a disciplinary process is likely to get under way once they receive the referee’s report from the game.
