Gaelic football analyst Joe Brolly has said the man who was the focus of an alleged ‘eye-watering’ incident during Sunday’s Armagh-Galway game will be banned for at least a year – but the GAA must “deliberately attack” Galway players investigate throughout the game.
Rolly, who won an All-Ireland medal with Derry in 1993, said there was a “poison” in the way some, not all, Armagh players behave.
“They’ve gotten out of hand and it’s only a matter of time before someone gets very seriously hurt,” he told The Indo Daily podcast.
“This was intentional prodding, intentional attacks in the course of the game, way beyond what is acceptable.
“I invite the GAA to review all CCTV footage.
“They should ask RTÉ for all camera images, because a lot was missed yesterday. It’s not good enough.”
Armagh forward Tiernan Kelly has been identified as the player whose fingers made contact with Galway forward Damien Comer’s eye during a melee in Sunday’s All-Ireland Football quarter-final.
But Mr Brolly says there is a wider problem with Armagh. He says it is no coincidence that this was the third failure on the pitch involving Armagh this season.
“Unfortunately there is a culture within this Armagh squad and it’s hard to know if it’s encouraged, but it’s definitely tolerated. This is the third time this season. And the most disappointing thing about the (Sunday) game is the number of times you could clearly see an Armagh player come up to injure an opponent,” he said.
Mr Brolly said eye lashing would be punished, but Armagh should be reprimanded for a string of incidents.
“The eye-gouger will no doubt get a minimum of 12 months… Possibly longer than that. It’s a scandal to see that in our games, deeply depressing. Armagh is a great football region, with a great tradition,” he said.
Meanwhile, MEP and former GAA president Seán Kelly said other than the dazzling incident, he saw “no major violence” that would justify gardaí.
Gardaí said they have not received any complaints.
Speaking with Radio Kerry’s Kerry Today with Jerry O’SullivanKelly said: “Except for the eye lashing, there really wasn’t any major violence that I saw that would justify the gardaí getting involved.
“Obviously any band is unacceptable and they will have to deal with it as part of the GAA’s normal procedures.
“If there is something really serious they might refer to the gardaí, but normally such things involving players the officials will deal with and that is the right way to do it because you can’t get the gardaí in every incident involve. †
Listen to the full interview with Joe Brolly on The Indo Daily podcast on Independent.ie