St.Coleman's supporters let Hogan Cup champions down

Saturday April 10th 2010 will go down in the history books of St. Colman’s college in Newry as the day they won back the Hogan Cup after a 12 year absence. But that is not all the day will be remembered for in Newry.

The behaviour of a minority of the St.Colman’s supporters left a very bad taste in the mouth of not only this reporter, but also undoubtedly in the mouths of their opponents, St.Brendan's of Killarney.

Arriving at the end of the Vocational Schools final between Clonakilty and Newry’s near neighbours St. Malachy’s the group of 200 or 300 students and past pupils made their presence known at the back of the lower section of the Hogan Stand.

Abuse was hurled down on their fellow footballers and supporters from Co. Down once the final whistle blew and two flares were lit in the middle of the stand, emitting a plume of blue smoke. The same colour as their school’s flag.

The worst abuse, however, was held for Kerry footballer and St. Brendan’s coach Paul Galvin. Chants about Galvin’s previous on field actions aswell as off-field controversies were rained down on him for the entire 60 minutes and even some time before the teams emerged from the tunnel.

To his credit Galvin never rose to the bait and completely ignored the St.Coleman’s supporters who were merely yards away from him for the entire match.

Scenes like this are completely alien to Croke Park, even when the rugby and, especially, soccer were being held in Croke Park there was never any trouble on this scale.

Five of the St. Colman’s supporters were taken away by the gardai following the final whistle as they attempted to make their way onto the playing surface.

Drink, no doubt, was a major factor in the behaviour of the supporters as the smell of alcohol emanating from their section of the ground was strong and a number of bags filled with bottles of beer were confiscated by the match stewards.

It is a shame that the Newry school was let down by their supporters on such an important day for the players and the school but unfortunately that is the way sport seems to be heading in this country.

Gerry Thornley claims it is happening, albeit not to the same extreme, in rugby and hopefully this is just a one off for the GAA.

Credit must go to the Croke Park stewards as they managed to successfully keep the supporters from gaining access to the pitch and kept them seperated from the real supporters and also to the other St.Colman’s supporters who were cordial in their success and cheered their team on with respect from the opening minute.

It is a shame that these same supporters, who were there to see their sons, brothers and friends win an All-Ireland final in Croke Park, should be said in the same breath as the thugs who were also following the Hogan Cup champions.

I congratulate St. Colman’s on their success and wish them further success in the future as they are clearly a good football team as their destruction of St. Gerald’s in the semi and St. Brendan’s in the final show.

But I sincerely hope that something is done, both by the St.Colman’s school and by the GAA, to make sure that scenes like the ones in Croke Park on Saturday are never seen again.