UGLY SCENES MARRED the end of today’s All-Ireland under-21 semi-final between Dublin and Cavan in Portlaoise today.
Referee Derek O’Mahony was confronted and jostled after the final whistle before being given a Garda escort from the field.
Cavan manager Peter O’Reilly was the first to remonstrate with the official after his side’s narrow 0 – 11 to 0 -10 defeat, but he subsequently pushed supporters and players attempting to do the same.
As O’Mahony neared the touchline, two Garda joined the stewards protecting O’Mahony, allowing the referee make his way down the tunnel.
The full highlights are below, with the final whistle blowing at the 2:30 mark.
Pathetic showing by RTÉ and FAI, both organisations, are heavily funded by us the taxpayers. Pull the plug now Mr Harris!!!
The reason no broadcaster wants to show the games is because they offer very poor entertainment and noboby but the fans of the clubs involved would watch.
The reality is whatever else they broadcast in place of these matches will pull in more viewing figures.
Irish domestic soccer is very unlucky in that it operates in a unique situation in Europe in that it exists in an environment with rugby clubs that are amongst the best on the continent and indiginious games that are hugely popular.
@Stanley Marsh: ouch i would watch it if it was on rte free and i support cork
@Square: Fair enough but would there be enough like you to make a difference?
LOI standard can be painful at times.
Was listening to Newstalk last week and one of the presenters who is an LOI regular was telling how he was at a match the weekend before and was nearly traumatised at how poor the match was.
Hard for LOI to thrive with the best league in the world 300 klms away along with the 4 rugby provinces and hurling.
Irish LoI soccer gets as much support as it deserves. Compared to other of our major sports, the quality, governance and management is appaling. The performance of the national teams of some small countries in Euro 24 was a clear demonstration of how far behind Irish soccer is and that can only be placed at the feet of the Clubs in our National League.
Since the days of Kerr, we have rarely produced a competitive underage national team, despite the numbers claimed to play the game.
Wake up soccer in Ireland. Start properly developing the players and producing winning teams. Then you’ll get support for State funding
@Des Lamont: A bit harsh on the LOI as they’re forced to make do with the little support they have financially from the FAI & gate receipts alone. You do realise it’s extremely difficult for a national footballing association to produce elite world-class players without significant backing from the government, and its citizens preferring to spend £££’s in a foreign country. That’s why Irish clubs are struggling in the coefficient rankings.