The off-duty detective was assaulted while protecting a referee.
Gardaí have launch an investigation after an off-duty detective was beaten unconscious at an underage GAA football match between Shamrock Gaels and Owenmore Gaels in the Sligo A1 Minor Championship semi-final.
Owenmore won the game by two points, but some of their club members were upset that referee Joe Hynes played an additional eight minutes at the end of the game – there were 12 substitutions in the second half.
Det Gda O’Neill was in attendance at Shamrock’s Coola pitch and he went to help escort Mr Hynes from the pitch after seeing that he was being verbally abused. The referee left the pitch unscathed but Det Gda O’Neill was punched and fell to the floor.
While on the ground, it’s reported that he was kicked in the head, suffered an injury to his ear and lost consciousness.
Owenmore Gaels have released a statement which reads: “following the minor match in Coola on Friday night September 2nd the club would like to emphasise it does not condone the scenes that followed. We are carrying out our own investigation and are awaiting the findings of the ccc and referees report”.
The referee’s match report is currently being investigated by the Sligo County Board’s Competitions Control Committee and an investigation has been launched.
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