John Fogarty: That it's Dublin makes it all the worse

For everyone else, there was no schadenfreude, no “serves them right”, no begrudgery. Just relief that it was Dublin who were caught and not them.

The embarrassment is and will be acute for Dublin boss Dessie Farrell, writes our columnist. ‘As a former Gaelic Players Association chief executive, the optics associated with putting his players in harm’s way are even less pretty.’ Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

“There but by the grace of God,” was the general reaction among Dublin’s rival counties to the news they had allegedly breached the Covid-19 training restrictions.

No schadenfreude. No “serves them right”. No begrudgery. Just relief that it was Dublin who were caught and not them. Not that all of them are training. But they know there have been situations over the last 12 months when the actions of managements and players may have been considered to be contravening the actual, if not the spirit of, the training ban.