The brawl that took place at the end of normal time in the Galway-Armagh game has dominated the headlines in the aftermath of the fixture. It was an incredibly entertaining 90 minutes or so of football, but it is tough to get away from those unsavoury scenes that unfolded in front of the Croke Park tunnel.
Much has been said and written about the conduct of the players involved and it seems clear that some hefty punishments are likely to be on their way from the GAA.
Armagh have been especially criticised for their role in the fracas, with this not being the first occasion in 2022 that they have been involved in such an incident.
Joe Brolly questions Armagh conduct in 2022
Joe Brolly was horrified by the scenes that unfolded on Sunday afternoon, although he seemingly felt such an incident was all but inevitable due to what he labelled as the 'culture' within the Armagh setup.
Speaking on the The Indo Daily podcast, the former RTÉ pundit said that something needs to be done to punish the Ulster team that has crossed a line on too many occasions in recent times.
They are out of control and it is only a matter of time before someone gets very seriously injured. This was deliberate goading, deliberate assaults during the course of the game, way beyond what is acceptable.
I invite the GAA to look at all the camera footage. They should be asking RTÉ for all of the camera footage, because a lot was missed yesterday. It’s not good enough...
There is, unfortunately, a culture within this Armagh squad and it’s difficult to know if it is encouraged, but it is certainly being tolerated. This is the third time this season. And the most disappointing thing about (Sunday’s) game is the number of occasions when you could clearly see an Armagh player setting out to injure an opponent...
The eye-gouger, no doubt, will get 12 months as a minimum… Possibly longer than that. It is a scandal to see that in our games, deeply depressing. Armagh is a great football county, with a great tradition.
I come back to the point: there was no harder team than the team that Kieran McGeeney captained to the All-Ireland in 2002 and that’s how you play Gaelic football – not how the current Armagh team plays. That is the third riot on the pitch that there has been associated with their games and it is not a coincidence.
Armagh were involved in a brawl with Tyrone during the league campaign, an occasion that saw five players sent off for their actions.
It will be interesting to see what action the GAA take on this occasion.
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