GAA: The Armagh county board has alleged captain Ciaran McKeever was taunted with sectarian abuse prior to his red card in the National Football League clash with Laois last weekend. McKeever received a straight red following an incident in the tunnel at half-time in O'Moore Park.
It is alleged that the Cullyhanna man was called a “British bastard” by a Laois player with reports also claiming “God Save the Queen” was shouted at him prior to the incident and while McKeever is due to serve a two-match ban, the Armagh board believe this behaviour will go unpunished.
"The chanting of 'God Save the Queen' and malign taunting of 'British B*****d' has no place either on or off the field of play,” the Armagh board said in a statement released last night. “This is provocation in the extreme and at variance with Rule 1.2 that 'the Association is a national organisation which has as its basic aim the strengthening of the national identity in a 32-county Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic games and pastimes. This partitionist mindset is contrary to the preamble in the Treori (Rules)."
The GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), meanwhile, are believed to have proposed a 12-week suspension for Armagh selector Paul Grimley after he confronted the match referee Michael Duffy after the match.