Five infamous GAA brawls

Dublin-galway, 1983 All-ireland SFC final

FOUR players, Dublin’s Brian Mullins, Ray Hazley and Ciaran Duff along with Tomas Tierney of Galway, were sent off in one of the most controversial games in GAA history. Duff received the harshest punishment of all with a 12-month ban though it was later reduced on appeal, while Mullins got five months and Hazley a month with Dubs boss Kevin Heffernan suspended for three months. Dublin struggled in the subsequent League, picking up only one win and suffering relegation to Division Two. Two Galway players, Tierney and Peter Lee, were hit with one-month bans but they topped Division Two and reached the League final, losing to Kerry.

Meath-mayo, 1996 All-ireland SFC final replay (above)

AN all-out brawl, which puts Sunday’s Tyrone-armagh skirmish in the ha’penny place, broke out early in the 1996 All-ireland final replay with referee Pat Mcenaney settling on Mayo’s Liam Mchale and Colm Coyle (above) of Meath as the main culprits, with both sent off. It could have been anybody though and that was reflected in the subsequent disciplinary enquiry that was carried out with eight Meath players and seven from Mayo suffering bans totalling 38 months. A weakened Meath finished sixth in Division One, as did Mayo in Division Two.

Tyrone-dublin, 2006 National Football League

“IF Paddy Russell had been God Almighty he couldn’t have refereed that game today,” commented Mickey Harte after the infamous ‘Battle of Omagh’, a game which Russell considered abandoning amid the bedlam that had ensued with on-field skirmishes nearly spilling into the stand. Dublin’s Alan Brogan and Denis Bastick were sent off along with Tyrone pair Colin Holmes and Stephen O’neill, while six players received eight-week bans and another a four-week suspension. There was acute embarrassment for the GAA, however, as all seven had their suspensions quashed on a technicality. The farce proved to be a watershed in how the GAA administered justice, with the disciplinary process tightened considerably afterwards.

Dublin-meath, 2008 National Football League

FIVE red cards were flashed at Parnell Park during an unseemly Division Two tie between the great Leinster rivals as Bernard Brogan, Paddy Andrews, Ciaran Whelan (all Dublin), Shane Mcanarney and Niall Mckeigue (both Meath) were given their marching orders. It didn’t stop there, however, as a whopping 16 players were proposed for suspensions of up to two months while both county boards were hit with fines. Understrength Dublin subsequently lost the Division Two final to Westmeath and some missed their Championship opener against Louth which they won comfortably; Meath suffered without key men against Wexford, however, slipping to a dramatic one-point loss in the Leinster quarter-final.

Armagh-cavan, 2014 Ulster SFC q-final

HOSTILITIES spilled over before the ball was even thrown in as a fracas broke out during the pre-match parade. Referee Marty Duffy couldn’t single anyone out at the time but five players, Cavan’s Martin Dunne and Fergal Flanagan and Armagh trio Brendan Donaghy, Kieran Toner and Andy Mallon, were proposed for bans. The suspensions stuck and though Armagh drew with Monaghan in the semi-final, they lost the replay. Cavan survived against Westmeath in the qualifiers.