CCCC examine referee’s report

The GAA’s Central Competition Controls Committee (CCCC) met yesterday to discuss referee Francis Flynn’s report from last Sunday’s controversial All-Ireland JFC semi-final between Derrytresk and Dromid Pearses.

However, they are believed to be a long way off making any possible judgement and only recently contacted the Tyrone and Kerry clubs as they investigate the violent scenes that marred the game in Portlaoise. CCCC chairman Seamus Woods, who hails from Tyrone, has removed himself from the discussion to avoid any potential conflict of interests.

Speaking to the Leinster Express, Laois chairman Brian Allen defended O’Moore Park as a venue and believes last Sunday’s incident won’t affect the Portlaoise venue hosting future games.

“This is an isolated incident, we host a lot of games in O’Moore Park and we’ve not had this with visiting teams,” he said. “I can’t see it affecting us, we run our games very efficiently and people have always been impressed with how we host games.”

He also insisted it was not within the GAA steward’s remit to be peacemakers. “Voluntary stewards are not expected to stop a fight when it starts, clubs are responsible for their players and officials and there are rules and regulations in place for that.”