GAA President Liam O’Neill backs disciplinary system despite breakdown in alleged biting case

GAA President Liam O’Neill has added his backing to the association’s disciplinary system, despite the apparent breakdown in the case of an alleged biting incident involving a Dublin footballer. However O’Neill also admitted there is an air of disappointment after the original penalty proposed by the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) was struck out when the case went to the Central Hearings Committee last week, at which stage no evidence was provided by Donegal, who made the initial allegation.

“We had allegations,” said O’Neill, “and our system worked the best it could. A case had to be built, that was done, a decision based on the evidence in front of the CCCC, and a penalty was recommended. We had no evidence provided on the game. People who had evidence didn’t show and that’s it. There’s nothing we can do about it. Our system has improved dramatically. Páraic Duffy put that on the record last week. It works when people co-operate with it and tell what happened – that didn’t happen in this case.”

O’Neill has also called for a greater level of responsibility from players and county boards when it comes to confronting such matters: “I have great respect for people who take the penalty. Famously, John Mullane did that and got huge kudos for it . . .

“The ideal thing would have been having set the wheels in motion that the process would have been seen through. I think there’s a certain level of disappointment with this case. It would have been better if they knew they weren’t going to see it out to the end.”