A new low for the GGA -Part 6

Sport
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The rule on native club is quite clear and the Offaly board are wrong here. Any local agreement or bye-law cannot be in contravention of general rule and, where there is a conflict, general rule takes precedence.

The DRA have fudged this and if it came before them again they would have no option but to rule in favour of the young fella. He has represented Birr at U14 level and that is sufficient to deem them to be his native club. Also, any agreement or bye-law should not be applied retrospectively.

Here in Limerick, when catchment areas replaced parish rule it was generally accepted that players would be left with the clubs they were already with and that the rule would only apply to new players provided there was no family member playing with the other club. A common sense approach that should have been applied here.

The mother will get nowhere playing the drama queen though.

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Former Dublin GAA star denies breaking garda’s jaw during a game, court hears

http://cdn4.independent.ie/migration_catalog/article29020194.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/brendan+mcmanamon

McManamon (Brendan): Appeared on charges of assault causing harm, Dublin District Court, 30-1-13
Pic shows: Dublin footballer Brendan McManamon (30) leaving court yesterday (Wed.) where he appeared on charges of assault causing harm to Enda Ledwith (33) a garda who plays for north Dublin team Na Fianna suffered a broken jaw during a home fixture against south-side rivals St Jude’s last March.

Brendan McManamon has denied the assault causing harm
04 FEBRUARY 2014

A former inter-county Dublin footballer has gone on trial accused of breaking an off-duty garda’s jaw during a league match in Glasnevin nearly two years ago.

Brendan McManamon (30), of Cypress Downs, Templeogue, has pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Garda Enda Ledwith at Na Fianna GAA Club, St Mobhi Road, on March 31, 2012.

The trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the incident took place during the last 10 minutes of a Division 1 league match between St Judes and Na Fianna.

Diarmuid Collins BL, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr McManamon later claimed Gda Ledwith had hit him in the testicles before the incident.

Gda Ledwith, a former Longford player, refuted that allegation and said he would have hit him at chest height but not in the testicles.

“I wouldn’t stoop so low. I’ve never, ever done that,” he said.

Giving evidence to the court, Gda Ledwith said his jaw was fractured in two places during the incident and he had to have surgery and get metal plates inserted.

He said he did not file a complaint until he was approached by gardaĂ­ and told that Mr McManamon, brother of 2011 All-Ireland winner Kevin, had made allegations of an assault.

Gda Ledwith said he had been playing in the right corner back position and was marking the accused, who he knew from previous matches, for the whole game.

He said the game had been very innocuous and had passed off without incident “with no real slagging or cursing” until ten minutes from the end when both players collided.

Gda Ledwith said the ball was in the other end of the field and that their paths had simply crossed, which he said happens commonly when marking someone.

He said Mr McMenamin punched him in the chest and he pushed him back as hard as he could and told him to “Fuck off”.

Gda Ledwith said that up to that point it was “handbags more than anything else”, adding that Gaelic football is a “physical game” and that these things happen.

But he said Mr McManamon then “seemed to snap” and started throwing punches at him, making contact with his face at least twice.

“His demeanour changed, to become more pumped up or aggressive,” said Gda Ledwith.

He said blood started to pour from his mouth and he went down on his hunkers and put his hand up to his mouth and felt that his teeth had caved in.

Gda Ledwith said Mr McManamon was roaring at him but he doesn’t remember what he said, and that the accused was then given a straight red card and sent off.

The alleged victim said another member of the St Judes team then pulled him up and said “Get up, get up, it’s only a league match.”

The team physio gave Gda Ledwith an icepack and he told her “My f**king jaw is broken,” and got into an ambulance.

Gda Ledwith said the accused put his head into the ambulance and apologised, saying something like, “Look, I’m sorry for what happened, these things happen on the pitch and stay on the pitch.”

Gda Ledwith said he just pulled his jacket over his head as he was in shock and didn’t want to interact with the accused.

He spent three days in St James Hospital and later underwent surgery to get three plates in his jaw and one tooth extracted to facilitate screws.

Gda Ledwith said he still had numbness on the left side of his jaw and that his jaw locks up in times of stress.

The jury were shown footage of the match taken by both Na Fianna and St Judes.

Among the witnesses to be called during the trial are the former Dublin County Manager Paul Caffrey, and former member of Dublin County Board, John McNichols.

The jury heard that Mr McManamon works as a sales rep for Pallas food company, which distributes food to the catering trade.

Before the jury was sworn in, Judge Patricia Ryan warned any potential jurors that they should not serve if they have a strong interest in GAA matters or any involvement in Na Fianna or St Judes.

The case continues before Judge Ryan and a jury of nine men and three women. It’s expected to last until early next week.

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What a few days its been for Diarmuid Connolly :clap:

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The family takes care of its own :clap::pint:

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?

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Beat a man to a pulp in an unprovoked attack, leaving him with a fractured eye socket. This week he escaped without a jail sentence or even a criminal record.

If the rugby boys did it you would have fellas seething on here.

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[QUOTE=“TreatyStones, post: 1037651, member: 1786”]Beat a man to a pulp in an unprovoked attack, leaving him with a fractured eye socket. This week he escaped without a jail sentence or even a criminal record.

If the rugby boys did it you would have fellas seething on here.[/QUOTE]

There was plenty of seething on here. The utter cunt should have done time.

A new low for the judicial system.

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FAO of the resident Law experts…could that guy sue Mcgowans for being open at that time?..

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wtf?

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OMG ?

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I think he’s referring to your new bessier.

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[QUOTE=“TreatyStones, post: 1037651, member: 1786”]Beat a man to a pulp in an unprovoked attack, leaving him with a fractured eye socket. This week he escaped without a jail sentence or even a criminal record.

If the rugby boys did it you would have fellas seething on here.[/QUOTE]
Well not to mention his All Star award and his County Final co captaining win.

A real feel good story for the week

WHEN Dublin football star Diarmuid Connolly first appeared in court, it surprised legal experts that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sent a case involving a victim’s eye socket being broken in an unprovoked attack to the District Court.

Normally, serious assaults, including assault causing harm - which Mr Connolly pleaded guilty to - are dealt with in the Circuit Court where more serious penalties apply upon conviction.

The difference in penalties is no mere technicality: Mr Connolly faced a maximum prison term of 12 months in the District Court compared to five years in the Circuit Court.

But yesterday the All Star, part of last Monday’s St Vincent’s team which won the Dublin SFC final, walked away not just from a possible serious stretch behind bars. Instead, the charges against him were struck out in their entirety, meaning that he has no criminal record at all.

The reasons provided by District Court judge Patrick Clyne were because Mr Connolly had “done all that had been asked of him through a serious of restorative justice measures”.

It is a phrase which will no doubt give many prison inmates serving time for assaults, well heeled and otherwise, much needed food for thought.

To his eternal credit, Mr Connolly pleaded guilty almost instantly and apologised unreservedly to his victim, Anthony Kelly. He attended a court mandated anger management course and completed 82 hours of community service coaching children, two hours more than the court requested.

Mr Connolly also paid €5,000 in compensation to Mr Kelly who accepted his apology.

Mr Kelly, who previously indicated he would pursue Mr Connolly in the civil courts, in turn donated the €5,000 compensation to the court’s poor box, whose continued use has become hugely controversial.

There are many cases where perpetrators seek to make amends and other precedents where middle-class people or talented sportsmen with unblemished records have been sent directly to prison for mindless one-punch assaults.

Judge Clyne could have applied the Probation Act, itself a form of acquittal, but he chose to strike out the charges. Here too the distinction is immense as applying the probation act creates a record of the charge, whereas a strike out creates no record whatsoever.

Will the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) challenge Judge Clyne’s generous strike out given the fact that judges have huge discretionary power, in particular where there are extenuating circumstances “of a special character”?

Three years ago High Court President Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns ruled that unless there is clear evidence of a District Court judge misapplying his or her discretion in operating a “strike out” and “pay” method of disposing of exceptional cases, he would be “extremely averse to the idea of truncating or wiping out” that power.

So Judge Clyne did, then, act within his discretion, even if the Poor Box’s coffers were boosted by proxy.

Diarmuid Connolly is an exceptional player: he is also a pillar of his community.

He took part in a vicious unprovoked attack that immigration officials will never have to query him over when he goes on holiday or tries to emigrate.

Yesterday’s decision by Judge Clyne may create a perception, however inaccurate or unintended, that we operate a two-tier system of justice.

It feels as if Mr Connolly has secured an extraordinary bounce of the ball.

But the real question is why such serious cases are being tried in the District Court at all?

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I assume the above is from that cheerleader of GAA - the Indo? Dermo took his punishment, did what was asked and kept his gob shut. Hanahoe Solictors - taking care of bidness.