Meath bus attack was not aimed at Dublin players, says county chief

THE Dublin footballers were not specifically targeted in the incident on Monday night which saw a window on their bus being shattered by an object thrown from the roadside, according to county chairman Gerry Harrington.

Pat Gilroy and his players and staff were aboard a Bus Éireann coach on their way back from a challenge match in Cavan when an object was thrown at the vehicle in Navan.

According to Harrington, it was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It may be no holds barred when Dublin and Meath meet on the field of play, but there is nothing to suggest that the rivalry between the two counties had anything to do with what happened,” he said yesterday.

The incident resulted in an external pane of glass being shattered alongside the side of the vehicle although an internal sheet was undamaged and the coach completed its journey.

No-one on board was injured and the matter was reported to gardaí.

Meanwhile, Gilroy hasn’t ruled chronic injury victim, Ross O’Carroll, out of his championship plans. The former county hurler missed the entire league campaign due to sciatica in his back. But after seeing a specialist last Friday, Gilroy is confident of O’Carroll’s availability as Dublin bid for their first All-Ireland title since 1995.

Gilroy said: “It should be okay and it should settle down but it’s been a recurring thing for him for a long time. They’re probably going to try and do something more direct on it than they have before now.”

Gilroy was expected to finalise his championship panel this week but has held off until after next week’s opening round fixtures of the Dublin senior championship.

“We’ll hold off on picking a panel of 35 or whatever. We want to be fair to everyone and see what they can do.”

Meanwhile Galway footballers were forced to extend their stay in New York, following the flight restrictions in and out of Irish airports. They flew out of JFK at 6pm local time yesterday evening (11pm, Irish) bound for Heathrow where they hope to get a connecting flight this morning.