Delaney denial needs further explanation

In his statement on behalf of the FAI board on Wednesday, the Association’s President Tony Fitzgerald sought to draw a clear line under the controversy caused by the revelation that John Delaney had sung the Republican ballad ‘Joe McDonnell’ in a Dublin pub following the recent Ireland-USA game at the Aviva Stadium, writes Liam Mackey.

“We are happy to bring the matter to a close,” said Fitzgerald, before going on to stress the board’s wholehearted backing for their embattled chief executive.

However, a unilateral attempt at closure is virtually meaningless so long as serious questions arising from the incident remained unanswered to any convincing degree. To paraphrase someone else who might be partial to the odd rebel song: this hasn’t gone away, you know.