Judge refuses to strike out GAA referee assault case

A JUDGE has refused to throw out the case of a man accused of attacking referee Martin Sludden after last year’s Leinster Senior Football final.

Mr Sludden had been confronted by Louth fans after he allowed a goal to Meath in the closing seconds of the match.

Joseph Conlon, aged 23, Paul Grimes, aged 50, and Dermot Rodgers, aged 44, all from Dundalk, Co Louth, were at Dublin District Court yesterday.

They have been summonsed on a charge of assaulting Sludden, at Croke Park stadium, on July 11 last year.

Yesterday, Rodgers’ solicitor asked Judge Bryan Smyth to strike out the case, saying he had not been furnished with disclosure of the prosecution evidence on time. Judge Smyth refused to order a strike out.

The judge adjourned the case of all three men until September 5.