A bag containing almost €20,000 worth of cannabis was bundled out of a speeding car on a country road and when gardaí arrested the two Fermoy men after the chase they blamed each other for the drugs.

The two men stood side by side in the dock at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday where Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said the garda evidence, probation report, and other background factors differentiated significantly between the two.

Nathan Mahon, aged 22, of 34 Rathowen Estate, Fermoy, Co Cork, was sentenced to five years with the last two years suspended.