Galvin and Mulligan both have their say as spit-spat turns ugly

Paul Galvin and Owen Mulligan have both added their voices to the fall-out emanating from a controversial incident in the recent All-Ireland Intermediate club final involving their sides.

Mulligan’s club, Cookstown Fr. Rock's, tasted victory over Galvin’s club Finuge in the All-Ireland Club Intermediate decider in Croke Park last month, but the game was the focus of attention for all the wrong reasons this weekend after video footage emerged which seemed to show Galvin being spat on by a member of the Cookstown side.

In the video, which you can see below, Galvin can clearly be seen wiping his neck after a Cookstown player ran past him and later complained to Mulligan about the incident, the pair of them no doubt familiar with each other given all the high-profile encounters between Tyrone and Kerry over the years.

On Twitter yesterday, however, Mulligan came out in defence of his teammate over the allegations, saying that the alleged spitting incident was getting out of control and that he was fully behind his club and the clubmate at the centre of the allegations.

Mulligan’s comments were the subject of reports in the national newspapers this morning and prompted a response from Galvin on Twitter, who was bitterly disappointed at the views of the Tyrone forward.

The comments from Galvin and Mulligan have come in the immediate aftermath of another spitting controversy in the GAA after Leitrim’s Emlyn Mulligan claimed that an Offaly player spat blood in his face during the National League Division Four encounter between the sides on Sunday afternoon.

What will become of both incidents remains to be seen, but hopefully it will be the last we hear of this type of thing, which has no place in the GAA or any sport.

UPDATE: Paul Galvin released a statement on the matter on his website this evening confirming that he had been spat on, while he also unequivocally distanced himself from claims made regarding verbal abuse during the game.

Galvin finished by saying that he will make no further comment on the matter and you can read the statement in full below.

Further to recent YouTube footage and press reports relating to a spitting incident in last months Intermediate club final I would like to 100% confirm for the record that I was spat on during the game. Furthermore I will utterly and unequivocally distance myself from claims made regarding verbal abuse during the game.

That I have to defend myself or clarify my position in this regard is as disappointing as it is wrong. I will also add that I made no comment or complaint, publicly or privately, at the time of the incident, as when the game finishes it is finished in my view and i have no interest in dragging this matter out. I am only doing so now as footage of the incident found its way into the public domain and for some reason I have been forced to confirm what I know to have happened.

Finally I would like to congratulate Cookstown on their victory. I have played in 12 All Ireland finals in both codes, winning 8, and this is one All Ireland I can live without. Tyrone football is full of men I admire greatly, men like Mickey Harte and Peter Canavan, who when I was 16 years old sought me out after a schools game against Cookstown and told me “you‘ll play for your county one day son.”

Those words inspired me many times growing up. The path that the Kerry/Tyrone rivalry has taken of late disappoints me. Both counties are better than the bitterness and rancour that currently exists.

I will make no further comment on the matter at this point.