I’m just glad none of our players were bitten.
A GAA coach trashed a taxi by jumping up and down on its roof after assaulting the driver when they got into a row because the cabbie was using his phone.
David Byrne (23), who was described in court as a “brilliant” footballer, punched the cab driver in the face, broke the taxi meter, climbed on to the roof and smashed the sign after refusing to pay his fare.
He was intoxicated and being driven home with his girlfriend.
Byrne had the case against him adjourned for a restorative justice programme report after he paid compensation to the driver.
Byrne, of Owensilla, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to assault, criminal damage, being drunk and a danger to traffic, breach of the peace and failing to pay a taxi fare at Coolock Lane on May 16.
Dublin District Court heard that gardai were on duty at 1.20am when they were called to the scene of an assault. They found the taxi driver chasing after Byrne, shouting at him.
Byrne was arrested at the scene and taken to Swords Garda Station, where he was unco-operative and had to be restrained.
The cost of the damage to the roof sign, meter and wing mirrors was €490. The court heard the taxi man’s car was in the garage for three days and he lost earnings as a result.
Byrne had also refused to pay his €18 fare.
Byrne was currently out of work and had enrolled in a further education course in DCU, his solicitor said. He was heavily involved in the GAA in his area, playing senior football with Ballymun and training young people at the club.
Judge Patricia McNamara said references handed in to court described Byrne as a “brilliant footballer”.
Training
He had a lot of alcohol taken on the night and was extremely intoxicated, the court heard. He did not usually do this as he took his training very seriously.
“He was in the taxi with his girlfriend, the driver was using the phone, he asked him to stop using the phone and an argument ensued,” Byrne’s solicitor said.
“He apologises sincerely for his actions.”
The judge adjourned the case to January 10.
Great story mate, but unless it was the taxi driver playing for Armagh I’m not sure it’s relevant.
I love the way the fact that he’s a “brilliant footballer” is relevant in a court case though.
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He probably went looking for more aggro and got some manners on him.
Did this happen before the throw in?
Yup. he lined up behind the wrong fleg I’d say.
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It takes fair going for a goalie to get involved in an incident in a fucking challenge match BEFORE the throw in…
Which keeper was it? We should bring back Hearty.
Never mind I was flipping back 10 years, of course he’s not the goalie, my mistake.
Yes, this is the chap Conor McManus had a field day against in the league semi-final. Presumably he’s usually better than he played that day.
Not that guy either. He’s a wing forward from Ballymun, the lad was marking McManus is David Byrne who plays for a different club.
My mistake, carry on.
Anybody know what will happen as regards TV coverage of the Cork-Kerry replay? As far as I know Sky have rights to two qualifiers being shown on July 18th which will be Fermanagh v Roscommon and Longford v Kildare.
Given that the Cork-Kerry replay is a 7pm start, you would think this means it’s being lined up for live TV coverage. Sky, you would presume, will push to replace one of their scheduled live qualifier matches with live Cork-Kerry coverage.
However there appears to be a problem here on two fronts.
i) Sky do not appear to have rights to show a provincial final exclusively live.
ii) If RTE want to show the Cork-Kerry replay live, Sky will surely object given that their 7pm qualifier match would be upstaged by a far more attractive live match directly clashing with it on RTE.
Will the Cork-Kerry replay be shown live at all? If Sky get the rights, there will be a Liveline furore over it given that every provincial final since 1998 has been shown live on free to air TV (the Clare-Waterford replay in 1998 was the last not to be shown live, from my memory). If it’s not shown at all, there will be an even bigger Liveline furore.
Surely the obvious thing to do was to have it throw in at 2:30 or 3pm and have it live on RTE, thus avoiding a clash?
A 7pm start in Killarney is also disastrous for anybody wanting to travel to this match by train. Irish Rail, comically, is advertising “great value return fares” for this match, however the last train out of Killarney is 7:38pm.
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Roscommon-Fermanagh and Longford-Kildare are this weekend and not televised. The televised qualifier games will be the winners of this weekend’s 2B games.
I’d imagine RTE might stream the game live on the web but not televise it. A Cork-Kerry game would be a distant second to a potential Armagh-Tyrone knockout clash in any case.
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There’s a marathon on in Killarney that morning which I think is a factor in the match being held at 7pm.
Anyone a list of the Championship top scorers to date including a breakdown from play and placed balls?
Heslin is 9/4 fav to finish top scorer and you can’t really see him having more than 2 games to add to that. Is he that far out on his own?
Fuck sake, let those freaks run around Tralee if they want
Check the GAA Twitter feed. They tweet it every Monday. Its buried on their site somewhere too.
Informative rating.