BOTH CLUBS involved in Tuesday's Setanta Sports Cup match at Richmond Park were critical yesterday of some of the media coverage of the event at which six people - four from north of the border and two from Dublin were arrested.
The four Northerners were charged with public order offences and appeared at Kilmainham District Court where three were remanded to appear on May 14th. The fourth had his charges dismissed under the Probation Act.
A spokesman for the Garda confirmed yesterday that all of the six had been arrested in relation to separate incidents on Tuesday. He described the overall scale of the trouble as "nothing major".
Linfield chairman Jim Kerr, meanwhile, said that the reaction by elements of the media to the trouble suggested it was "open season" on the club.
"We sold 809 tickets and over 800 attended the match, supported the team and left without any trouble whatsoever," he said, "and it's the first time in four years that we've had any supporter trouble in the Setanta (Cup).
"The Garda operated a zero tolerance policy," he continued. "Some of our supporters said it was a bit heavy handed but I didn't see it so I'm not in a position to say whether it was or not. (But) Glentoran played St Patrick's Athletic a few weeks ago and four people were arrested yet it didn't merit a single line in a newspaper. It just seems to be open season on Linfield."
St Patrick's Athletic, meanwhile, issued a statement complimenting those Linfield supporters who made it into the ground and having "behaved impeccably" and given their team "great support".
The club claimed the way in which pictures of one incident in which a supporter with a bloody face was being taken away from the ground prior to the game kicking off had been misleading.
"Images in the national media may have given the impression of more widespread trouble occurring at the match which was simply not the case," it stated.
Club officials maintained one of those apprehended had not even been at the game and had actually been arrested for causing damage to the wing mirror of a car.
Tuesday's arrests are not the first to have occurred at games played between clubs from opposite sides of the border in the all-Ireland competition but there has not been any really serious trouble and the vast majority of games have passed off entirely without incident with visiting supporters having generally been well received at away games.
They come, however, at a time when many of the island's leading club's, both north and south of the border, have expressed support for moves to create an All-Ireland League, a proposal which was strongly backed by St Patrick's Athletic director of football Brian Kerr in his programme notes for Tuesday's game.
However, the proposal has yet to win the support of the Irish game's two governing bodies.
LEAGUE OF IRELAND CUP - Second round fixtures - Pool A - Tues, April 29th: Cork City v Limerick 37 (Turner's Cross, 7.45); Mon, May 5th: Wexford Youths v Kerry League (Ferrycarrig Park, 6.0). Pool B - Mon, May 5th: Derry City v Finn Harps (Brandywell Stadium, 7.45); Tues, May 6th: Sligo Rovers v Galway Utd (The Showgrounds. 8.0). Pool C - Mon, May 5th: Bohemians v Dundalk (Dalymount Park, 7.45); Mon, May 5th: Shelbourne v Drogheda Utd (Tolka Park, 4.0). Pool D - Mon, May 5th: Bray Wanderers v Shamrock Rovers (Carlisle Grounds, 7.45); Mon, April 21st: UCD v St Patrick's Athletic (UCD Bowl, 7.45).
