Donaghy’s goodwill gesture praised

All-Ireland Club finalists Slaughtneil revealed Kerry star Kieran Donaghy sent a message of goodwill to Christopher Bradley for the shoulder tackle which may rule him out of the final on St Patrick’s Day.

Bradley broke his collarbone following Donaghy’s tackle during the closing stages of Slaughtneil’s one-point win over Austin Stacks in the All-Ireland semi-final in Portlaoise 11 days ago. The stricken forward is attending an oxygen chamber in Larne in a bid to speed up the healing process. He also travelled to Ipswich in England for treatment but the club’s assistant manager, John Joe Kearney, has admitted they “aren’t hopeful” he will be fit to face Corofin in the decider.

Kearney, who had initially been critical of Donaghy’s tackle, last night praised the new Kingdom captain for his actions after the semi-final.

“To be fair to Kieran Donaghy he went to the bother of getting a number for Sammy (Bradley) and sent a text and said ‘Look, no hard feelings, sorry you ended up the way you did but the hit was there and I took it.’

“It was very commendable that he did that and we appreciated it. In fact, I would nearly need to text him back and say ‘sorry, I accused you in the wrong!’

“I spoke out of context after the game because although it looked like a really heavy tackle, but when I watched it back, it was shoulder to shoulder.

“It was just a case of little versus large, but it was quite within the rules of the game. So I send him my apologies. It was a big hit but it was a fair hit.”