The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
All hell broke loose
IT was the day all hell broke loose.
One second it was a game of football. The next an all out brawl. Sitting in the pressbox watching the events unfold down below us was a surreal experience. A somewhat innocuous scuffle between Aidan ‘Shine’ O’Sullivan and Derrytresk’s Caolan Corr took place and before you knew it there people wearing Derrytresk jerseys and club jackets swarming down from the stand and onto the field of play.
Dromid Pearses players were confronted. Denis ‘Shine’ O’Sullivan had his jaw broken. Star midfielder Thomas Curran had to be replaced at half-time suffering from suspected concussion. A visibly shellshocked Dromid team were defeated by the Tyrone men on a scoreline of 0-7 to 1-10. Their All Ireland dream in tatters. After the match it emerged that Declan O’Sullivan was struck with a handbag by a Derrytresk supporter. To say events left a bad taste in the South Kerry men’s mouths would be an understatement.
People from all over the country talked to Joe. The events of that January day were reported on RTE, on the BBC and in every national newspaper. Dromid boss MIchael Anthony O’Connell made an impassioned plea for Derrytresk to be thrown out of the compeition.
“I won’t be happy with a fine,” he told TheKerryman. “I’ll never go into a football pitch again if they’re not thrown out. They can present the Cup to the Galway champions. I would have no problem with that.”
He went on to say: “I’ll it out straight. Do you know what they [Derrytresk] did to three of our players when they stuck out their hands at the start of the game? They grabbed them by the testicles and pulled them. Can you imagine doing that at a football match?”
Derrytresk were allowed to play the All Ireland final against Galway outfit St Patricks of Clonbur, albeit with seven of their players suspended. They lost that final and the Central Competitions Control Committee decreed that they be banned from from provincial and All Ireland competition for five years. Dromid had three players suspended following the investigation and were banned from provincial and All Ireland compeition for three years.