Not sure if serious, but anyway
There were 3 âassaultsâ according to Dalton. Each of them had homophobic insults thrown in from Heery
David really didnât explore this properlyâŚcapiche???
Any link to the article, pal?
Sunday Times pal. No sub, only hard copy for me
Iâll take a photo later for you
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Shane Dalton: âI donât understand where the hostility came from. All I wanted was to know whyâ
They soldiered for 19 years. Together on the St Vincents minor hurling team that won the Dublin championship in 1982. More championships would follow. Under-21 hurling and football, senior football in 1984 and 1985, senior hurling in 1988. They both made the Dublin Under-21s in 1984, picking up a Leinster championship.
Shane Dalton and Eamonn Heery, comrades-in-arms you might imagine. Not exactly.
The former Scottish rugby international Ian McGeechan once said that when sporting warriors meet in later years, one look would be enough to rekindle an old flame. Dalton says when he sees Heery what he gets is âthe Roy Keane stare.â
Their most recent encounter was in a court room on Dublinâs Parkgate Street last Thursday where Heery was cleared of assaulting his former teammate in a pub 18 months ago. It was the second occasion Heery was before the courts on a charge related to Dalton. Eight years ago he was convicted of assault and fined âŹ400 after an incident on Clonliffe Road in October 2007.
Heery is a 53-year-old company director. Dalton is a 51-year-old school teacher. Where their lives have overlapped, the fall-out brings to mind Mark Twainâs observation that, âTruth is stranger than fiction because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.â
Two court cases down, Dalton is now considering bringing a civil case against Heery. We meet at a hotel on Dublinâs north side.
Why? Why would Dalton make the complaints to gardai that led to Heery twice being charged with assault? Why would he bring so much aggravation on himself and his family? Why would be put Eamon Heery and his family through this?
âI am looking for a why,â he says. âThat is all I am looking for, why?â
Dalton alleges that after Heeryâs conviction for assault in 2010 the behaviour that led to that case continued. Heery denies this. What is on the record are three complaints made by Dalton to the Gardai about alleged incidents involving Heery after the first case, the third of which led to last weekâs court case.
Heery was cleared of assault, though he was criticised by Judge John Cheatle for âa potentially homophobic comment and unpleasant behaviourâ towards his former teammate.
Dalton says he doesnât understand the reason for Heeryâs apparent antagonism and as well as wanting it to end, he would like to know why it existed in the first place. After Thursdayâs court case, he hopes that the hostility will end.
âI donât understand why this started. And I know this sounds a bit cheesy but Iâm hoping he too might get something from this process of me bringing it out in the open.â
Dalton alleges that the animosity has festered for almost ten years and that their fractious relationship dates back to a training session at St Vincents in 1992 when both men were in their twenties.
âWe were playing backs and forwards and I got the ball ahead of him and he literally jumped on me and tried to pull the ball off me. I was still going. Then he started to have a few digs and I knew there was something up. He was captain at the time.â
The late Dave Billings was in charge of that training session. âDave told me to leave the pitch. I said why should I leave. I said that is some way for a captain to behave before the championship. Then I just walked off. I packed my gear and went off home. It was never discussed. Dave never mentioned it. I felt he knew I had the more even temperament and the easy way out was to get me off.â
Dalton was 16 when he joined St Vincents. The Heerys were a traditional Vincents family and Eamon was one of the most promising young players at the club at the time Dalton joined. In the early 90s Heery was one of the stars on the Dublin senior football team and won an All Star award in 1992.
âHe was a good athlete,â Dalton says of Heery. âVery tenacious, great speed. Very good kicker of a ball. He had this very competitive streak and he might have went a bit over the top now and then but he was without doubt one of the finest players I played with at the club.â
They mixed in different circles. Dalton had his friends, Declan OâBrien, Paul Confrey and Eamonn Clancy but he was a relatively introverted teenager who would generally leave directly after playing or training, often to play badminton.
From the moment of that training ground altercation, Dalton sensed Heery didnât have much time for him. They rarely spoke and Dalton tried to steer clear of his teammate. âHe was a hard man on the pitch.â
Dalton enjoyed a good relationship with the late Jimmy Heery, Eamonâs dad. They got to know each other at the club and then spent many mornings on the same 28 bus going to work in the centre of Dublin. âI was 24 or 25 at the time and used to get on three or four stops before Jimmy who worked for a group of solicitor firms, delivering legal documents. He used to smoke a pipe and would come upstairs where Iâd be sitting on an outside seat. Iâd say, âI have a seat for you.â
âMostly it was football talk and how things were at Vincents. He once told me Eamon didnât want me getting the ball [in training] because if I got the ball the back might as well forget it. Jimmy was a great Vincents man, went to an awful lot of games. We got on really well.â
For Dalton it was very different with the younger Heery. Relations deteriorated after their playing careers ended. Their paths crossed randomly, occasionally in Gaffneyâs pub in Fairview, more often in Kavanaghâs on the Malahide Road. According to Dalton their encounters were characterised by hostility from his former teammate. Heery denies this.
The incident that would lead to their first court appearance happened on a Saturday afternoon in 2007.
There were two Railway Cup games at Croke Park that afternoon and Dalton was walking down the Clonliffe Road on his way to the ground when he saw Heery coming towards him.
According to the Garda report, Dalton tried to pretend to be on the phone and moved behind a tree. The report then describes how Heery walked directly to him and punched him in the chest while verbally abusing him. There were no witnesses and because there were no injuries, there was no medical evidence.
Dalton saw a garda and immediately reported what had taken place. Heery was offered an adult caution but refused to accept it.
The file was sent to the director of public prosecutions who proceeded with an assault case against Heery. Sixteen months later the teammates had their first day in court.
At St Vincents, there was disappointment that Dalton had gone this far.
âA lot of people at the club didnât want it to happen,â says Dalton. âThey were saying what is that eejit doing taking that fella to court, our beloved former Dublin player. I was asked on countless occasions to drop it. People just didnât believe Vincents should be washing their dirty linen in public.
âA well known person at the club asked me what would it take to sort this out. I said just an apology. He says I donât think you are going to get an apology off him, I said âwell then donât be talking to me.ââ
Heery insisted in court that the Clonliffe Road assault never took place. Dalton claimed the opposite. The judge believed Dalton and on February 20, 2009, Heery was convicted of a section two assault. He appealed that decision but the conviction and âŹ400 fine were upheld.
That might have been the end of an unpleasant story but according to Dalton it wasnât. He alleges that since then there have been further incidents of animosity â allegations that Heery has denied.
Dalton filed three complaints to gardai. The third of these related to an incident at Kavanaghâs on January 6, 2016, and it was this that was the subject of last weekâs court case. Dalton told the court that Heeryâs presence alone made him feel intimidated, so much so that he called a friend to come to the bar.
The former teammates exchanged words. Daltonâs version is that Heery told him he would âget me or kill meâ and âit was only a matter of time before he gets meâ. Dalton replied: âIâm not afraid of you, Eamonâ, to which Heery allegedly responded: âYou are afraid of me.â
Soon after, as Heery and his family were leaving, there was another exchange. This time, Dalton turned on the record device on his mobile phone. The quality of the recording was not perfect, however. Dalton claimed that Heery had made another threat but the judge was satisfied that that the audio material did not back up the claim that Heery had said he would âgetâ Dalton.
Though acquitting Heery, who did not have to give evidence, Judge John Cheatle did acknowledge that the accused had called Dalton a âlonely queer c**tâ before telling him âGod blessâ.
Dalton says that many Vincents people have spoken to him. âTheyâve come up and offered support, whereas the first time it was, âwhy are you doing this?â For the second [trial] they wished me luck and the club themselves have been brilliant.â
He feels his experience is part of a bigger picture. âYou canât let something like this go on because it will drag you down.â
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âYou are wrong, @Nembo_Kid.â
âI am not wrong, @caoimhaoin.â
I think you two (2) guys should bury the hatchet rather than let it fester like Heery and Dalton.
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A better response by Heery would have been a condescending laugh followed by âI think you have been afraid all your lifeâ.
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I think this is a great line
ââDalton tried to pretend to be on the phone and moved behind a tree. The report then describes how Heery walked directly to him and punched him in the chest while verbally abusing himââ
Vinnyâs are some club
Humphreys and now this going on
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Did Daltonâs father not teach him to stand up to bullies? He comes across as an awful coward.
Thatâs what I heard aswell
Iâll take a pm on this.
Absolutely not
Absolutely not is right and I saw the two of them having lunch in Howth in the last year.
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Iâve nothing to PM you - at present. But tâwouldnât take a brain surgeon to read between the lines
A bit like you
Itâs odd how you like to manifest your shortcomings onto others.
Are the two lads gay
Nembo admitted that years ago
That you were gay?
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