After one of the most thrilling and entertaining GAA matches in recent memory, it's the incident surrounding Galway's Damien Comer being eye gouged that remains the main topic of conversation.
After fans, pundits and players from around the country have slated and called for action against the member of the Armagh side, sports minister Catherine Martin has become the latest person to condemn the incident act.
At Trinity College Dublin today, the Minister for Sport was quoted as saying:
The eye-gouging incident is appalling stuff. Families go to these games… I know of a 5-year-old who was at that yesterday, their first match experience. They should have come home talking about what an amazing experience it was."
Standing beside her, the Taoiseach called the incident 'disturbing'.
“The Gaelic Athletic Association obviously will have to deal with that through its procedures and processes, but there is no room for that in any sport."
“They don't need to see this type of behaviour. And it was quite quite disturbing to see and quite concerning.”
Charlie Flanagan, the former Minster for Justice, has also called for the Gardaí to investigate the ugly scenes. The Fine Gael TD tweeted this yesterday evening:
Gardai should investigate violent confrontation in Croke Park. Expect some in @rte & @officialgaa to reduce it to ‘handbags’ https://t.co/y4JSnoOIkH
— Charlie Flanagan (@CharlieFlanagan) June 26, 2022
Former GAA President calls for change
Former President of the GAA Liam O'Neill has also spoken out on the incident and the recurring theme of brawls creeping into the game.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, O'Neill spoke about how there needs to be less people on the sideline during matches.
"We had an absolutely fantastic game in Croke Park, everything you want in Gaelic Games, yet we’re talking about violence and that is a huge pity,
"In my time as president I made a huge effort to clear the sidelines down to one manager and one runner. That’s more than enough. We really have to get to grips with this situation.
"We had a situation in Croke Park on Sunday where we had excellent dressing rooms on both sides of the field. We could have used one for either team and avoided this.
O'Neill who served as GAA President from 2015 to 2018 also said that extended panels and management should not be allowed in the changing room and also spoke about the GAA and Croke Park's role in the trouble.
"People say it’s the same around the country. It’s not. In Portlaoise we have two dressing rooms and the players come out of either end of the same stand. There’s never a difficulty. Admittedly it was a response to a situation that developed but we solved it and Croke Park really have to get to grips with this.
"There is no need for the extended panels to go into the dressing rooms at half-time. What do they contribute in there anyway? We should have people sitting in the stands and have the managers and selectors in the dressing rooms with their players.
"It’d be much tidier and we wouldn’t have had the situation we had on Sunday."
SEE ALSO: Sean Cavanagh Labels Armagh's Defeat On Penalties As A "Disgrace"
