i was also a neutral supporter yesterday at cross ballina game to see the many mayo players in action. unfortunately due to thugery from the cross player ronan mc garrity was taken out. the game was littered with violence throughout and just cant understand how the linesman on the stand side of pitch who was directly in line with the incident missed it. if this incident happened on the streets it wld be jail for the individual.

mayoman2009 (Mayo) - Posts: 1 - 06/07/2009 16:12:06    334354

lads i agree its a disgrace what happened to ronan mcgarritty the player in question should get the book thrown at him i hope ronan is back for the connaught final and wish him a speedy recovery

jailhouse.usa (Galway) - Posts: 1155 - 06/07/2009 16:39:12    334425

Where was the linesman from????????

xxx (Mayo) - Posts: 1275 - 06/07/2009 16:40:34    334428

Right all ye decent Mayo people,which bye the way most of ye are,forget about this Galway V Mayo banter for a minute. Now is the time for ye to stand up and get this guy that hit Mc Garrity sorted out once and for all in the courts. Most of ye saw what happened,so just go and do it, that's the first thing. The second problem is not just a Mayo problem, but a problem for the GAA all over the country,and that is the OFFICIALS,they are just not up to it in my opinion , and because of that, these type of acts will continue to happen in football,so why doesn't some County Board show some leadership and implement a programme to train proper officials,because that's what we need. As a Galway person i hope that McGarritty is able to play in the Connaught Final,and if Mayo are too good for us on the day,good luck to them,we will be the first to congratulate them,and wish them well.

reteoir (Galway) - Posts: 197 - 06/07/2009 17:11:59    334505

This is a dreadful assault on a young man that recovered from a bad illness to come back and play for his county.mayo people need to something instead of coming on here moaning.go to the guards and report what you seen they might act on it

mikeyjohn (Galway) - Posts: 305 - 06/07/2009 20:52:36    334863

Was at the game on sunday in Ballina.It was sad to see Ronan get injured and wish him a speedy recovery.he is a fine footballer.Whatever action will happen over incident remains to be seen. but reading forums its amazing that this is the only incident that is being discussed.There was also 2 other fairly dirty incidents by Ballina players one which resulted in a red card and then that player when he was walking off proceded to kick the Crossmolina player he was marking in the ankle.It must be said that this was the closest he got to hes marker all day. but an even lower act took placed when a Crossmolina player was on the ground and was stamped on in the face resulting in stitches.This is a bad way to get revenge.It is amazing that no officials saw the incident that took place to ronan and the stamping incident.In general the game was a hard hitting game of football with Crossmolina by far the better team.Attimes they played some great footballand there work rate was excellent.Ballina simply could not live with there movement.It was great to see ciaran McDonald kick 2 great points when he came on.Just hope John o Mahony was watching. Violence in the gaa and all sport needs to be cut out.Because it was a county player that got struck has brought alot of attention than if it happened a junior player or any player that isnt county standard.

aj (Mayo) - Posts: 85 - 07/07/2009 00:00:12    335084

Well done to the galway lads who've posted on here. Hopefully the perpetrator will be brought to justice and mcgarrity will be back to face ye on july 19th

redandgreen (None) - Posts: 691 - 07/07/2009 00:26:35    335110

Listened to Jimmy Magee's Take Your Point programme on RTE Radio on Sunday evening and John Maughan was commenting on the weekend's matches and in passing spoke about the injury to Ronan McGarrity indicating that it was an 'accidental collision'. Having heard subsequently that it was an off the ball incident I had my suspicions as most off the ball incidents are far from accidental and having read the comments here it seems my suspicions are justified.

CavanManInMayo (Cavan) - Posts: 14 - 07/07/2009 00:37:20    335114

Would agree with what was said in the above post. Its unfortunate that Ronan McGarrity got injured but what a lot of people who weren't at the game and who seem to be trying to create a major issue out of this by saying it was premeditated and such nonsense is the fact that in the incident the Crossmolina player simply reacted,and I saw the incident as it happened in front of me so while I have every simpathy for him and dont like to see any player getting injured the FACT is that there were two of them in it. The far more serious incident that went unpunished was the Crossmolina player getting stamped in the head on the ground. I have to say the behavipur of some of the Ballina players was disgracefull as they went out with a gameplan to try and stop Cross from playing in the first half and some of their tactics were very questionable - the fact that they didn't register a single score in the first half is proof of this.

LP (Mayo) - Posts: 6 - 07/07/2009 02:03:25    335152

was at the game on sunday as a neutral. the standard of refereeing was one of the worst i have seen in along time. the two linesmen were as well off if they stayed at home. they were no help to the referee at all. from a football side it was a poor game. both of these teams are not the force they used to be. crossmolina worked hard but have too many players with alot of miles on the clock. ballina for all their underage success seemed to lack firepower upfront. nobody can condone the violence that happened. i had a clear view of the incident. from what i could see there were two of them in it. both players were swinging at each other. its a sad day for football when 4 lads representing their clubs end up in casualty on a sunday evening, ronan with a broken jaw and 3 crossmolina players one with facial injuies, broken collar bone and a chipped shouler bone. this is not a great advertisement for gaelic football.

galwayflyer (Galway) - Posts: 2 - 07/07/2009 07:56:02    335175

Ballina player who got sent off acted in retaliation, cross player also booked for same incident.

xxx (Mayo) - Posts: 1275 - 07/07/2009 09:54:48    335235

This is a cancer that is eating away at the gaa. These "incidents" keep happening up and down the playing fields of Ireland. Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Inter County. It's rife and I'm sick of it. Get well soon to McGarrity, he is a fine footballer and a great fielder, something that's not so common anymore. That was terribly wrong what happened to him.

It's time for the gaa to change its line on discipline and become more zero tolerant. Football is a man's game and everyone likes good, strong, healthy physicality but there's a line not to cross. The refs and linesmen need to be trained better and brought up to the highest possible standards and then given real power and respect. There is too much difference in their interpretation and application of rules. It needs to be mapped out in black and white. Use the sin bin, communicate thru the captains, respect the refs. Use strong disciplinary committees and "cite" players for gross dirty play. I know there's some rugby jargon there but generally that game is well reffed.

Everyone offended by the McGarrity situation should write strong letters to the county board and to Croke park. Maybe even get a protest going about it. McGarrity is the tip of the iceberg. Thousands and thousands of people down thru the years have suffered these violent attacks. It's time for it to stop.

Tribesman09 (Galway) - Posts: 31 - 07/07/2009 10:43:50    335274

It's sad to c this kind of thing happening,especially to McGarrity who is a great bit of stuff.All the best and a speedy recovery Ronan.Crossmolina should be made to identify the culprit involved like in that case in Derry.

fredrickwood (Roscommon) - Posts: 2871 - 07/07/2009 11:05:36    335307

Cross should be the first to act on this and suspend the player responsable. Cross should get thrown out of rest of championship. Co board need to act quickly and make an example of cross to stop this type of thing happening again.

mossy (None) - Posts: 39 - 07/07/2009 12:19:47    335419

its a sad sad day to loose ronan for a C/F in such a manner and i really hope the guy is brought to justice but i think we all no its not gonna happen! ronan has been through enough this past few years hes a tough man so lets get him back A.S.A.P!! now wit regards of the game WHY was such a game played 2 weeks before the final anybody and everybody that knows anything about those 2 clubs should know that the game was gonna be a battle and nothing short of it! the county board will have to ans to that 1 !!!! just when things are lookin bright for football in mayo something like this happens !!! id just like to ask the guy that struck out at ronan..... would ya like to c an all ireland senior title come to mayo sometime???? i no i would!

p.s. and again fair play to the comments from the galway crew there is sportsmanship in the game long may it last!!
get well soon ronan!!

ps22 (Mayo) - Posts: 6 - 07/07/2009 13:07:43    335499

Wish Ronan a speedy recovery. As a galway fan hope that he can play against us in a few weeks and if not certainly back for mayo for remainder of all ireland series.

Heard David Brady on off the ball (Newstalk 106) last night on the incident. He was very quick to point out that the story about accidential collision of heads was untrue and fair play to him for that.

As others on this thread have pointed out I would hope that firstly someone from crossmolina would stand up and acknowledge the wrong done and if not then mayo county board/GAA would fully investigate and deal with the matter.

But like many that have posted as there are laws in this country that deal with premeditated assaults this incident should be reported and investigated.

mota (Dublin) - Posts: 78 - 07/07/2009 13:43:35    335575

The Officials at a game should stand up and be counted in this kind of instance. What are they there for, the ref cant see everything (most of them dont see half of whats going on). If someone gets a facial injury off the ball the linesmen & umpires should be consulted. That should never be acceptable on a football pitch.

Gaelic23 (Mayo) - Posts: 1 - 07/07/2009 14:01:39    335610

Ok LP, lets talk about some FACTS as you put it...... You say Ronan and the crossmolina player were both at it...eh no..There was the standard jossling in midfield prior to the incident and it no way justified getting punched from behind. Ballina players obviously saw how serious the injury was at half time in the dressing room and the Crossmolina player got off lucky with stitches in my opinion. It was a brutal game in every sense of the word, and i fell the brutality marker was put down in the first minute by the Crossomolina player and the Ballina players were right to stand up and not take it. Ballina simply don't have the class forwards, probably not since Kevin McStay, and not surprising came up short, because half backs and midfielders can only do so much.

ballinaman (Mayo) - Posts: 226 - 07/07/2009 14:17:33    335635

Please have some reapect for ronan McGarrity, this idle thrash talk with his name involved, I'm sure he would like his name off this board after all he has been through, I hope he plays for mayo and I think he will from all accounts so your hurting Ronan more than anyone else from writing these comments!

Galwaytill Idie (Galway) - Posts: 58 - 07/07/2009 16:28:12    335888

So anyway, how does the Crosmolina player feel after this incident?He done what he set out to do didnt he..

In the Parish ! (Mayo) - Posts: 448 - 07/07/2009 18:11:04    336050