Dublin CEO John Costello has his say on the 'targeting' of Diarmuid Connolly in his annual report.

Connolly was involved in several flashpoints during Dublin's successful retention of the Sam Maguire this year and, unsurprisingly, Costello has come to his defence by claiming the St. Vincent's clubman was consistently targeted by opponents.

The long-serving county board secretary - whose son Cormac scored three points after coming off the bench in the All-Ireland SFC final replay victory over Mayo - has urged the GAA to clamp down on  the 'instigators' of such incidents.

"During the season the word 'targeting' was very much in the headlines after some games. It would seem that 'targeting' means different things to different people," he writes.

"Euphemisms such as 'man-marking' and 'close, continuous marking' were used to suggest they were the same as 'targeting'. They are not.

"I'll give one example of 'targeting' and how the victim can ultimately be deemed to be the guilty perpetrator if action is not taken by officials when the 'targeting' is not cut out at source and the instigator for the most part goes unpunished.

"In one of our championship games this summer one of our players - (no prizes for guessing who!) - Diarmuid Connolly -  was struck about six times before the ball was even thrown in to commence the game. Okay, they were not Mike Tyson haymakers he was hit with but, nevertheless, each blow was an infraction of the rules and worse still, happened right under the gaze of one of the referee's linesmen.

"At most breaks in play, this action continued with the perpetrator turning his back to the play and repeatedly striking Diarmuid, with one intention only, i.e. provoking a reaction that may get him in card trouble.

"The linesman's attention was brought to it but again no action taken.

"In conclusion, to clean up this aspect of our games which often culminates in messy pushing and shoving contests and, ultimately the odd ripped jersey or two, it is important for the welfare of the game that action is taken to cut it out at source, i.e. the original instigator."

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