McGuinness: McBrearty was wronged
May 10, 2013
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness talks to his players. INPHO
Breaking his silence on the matter, the Donegal manager insists the All-Ireland winning attacker was bitten by his Dublin opponent in the last round of the league at Ballybofey and points out that the young Kilcar clubman was the victim on the double:
"Patrick is the victim in this situation," the Donegal manager told RTE. "I don't think he should have been dragged through the media for a week or ten days, having been the victim.
"The protocol from our own point of view, we reported it to the referee at half time actually, and we reported it to the referee after the game.
"We followed the procedures then. We wanted him to go to the hearing, I wanted him to go to the hearing, and the County Board wanted him to go to the hearing, but Patrick didn't want to go to the hearing.
"I suppose the president of the Association has come out and made comments on it, but as you know he's a schoolteacher himself, and he should understand, I feel, that Patrick is a very young boy, he's only turned 19.
"He didn't want to go to Dublin, and he didn't want to go into a room and point the finger at somebody. But he outlined his own position and he outlined what happened. And what he outlined was strong enough for the CCCC to ban the player in the first situation.
"And we gave all the information we had, and that information was fairly emphatic.
"I don't believe it was up to us to make the case for the CCCC; it was up to the CCCC to make the case themselves, based on the information.
"And Patrick gave a statement, and the photographs went through to Croke Park, and the County Board and everybody involved with Donegal cooperated fully with that.
"And if a young fella of 19 years of age doesn't want to go to a hearing, he doesn't have to go to a hearing. That's his own choice, it was his own decision. And I would stand by him on that.
"There's an apportion of blame there, which I don't like. I don't like the apportion of the blame. Patrick is without blame in this situation. He was bit, and was a victim of that bite.
"To point a finger and say that it was Patrick's fault on the back of that - I think it's wrong. I didn't come out and say anything about it because we'd lost the match, and I think if you talk after you lose matches it's sour grapes.
"But that was our situation, and a lot of people have said it was handled wrong. But that's the facts of the matter.
"I think people should back off Patrick now and let him get on with his football. As I said, he's a very young boy and he's a very quiet lad.
"You can't push people into situations and you have to respect their own opinions at the end of the day and it didn't happen in this situation, and on top of that the finger was pointed at him.
"Hopefully now he can refocus on his football and focus on Tyrone because he is a very good talent." Tweet
