Father's rage at son’s hurling match led to umpire assault and pitch brawl, court hears

Natasha Reid

A court has heard that there were already tensions on the pitch during an underage hurling match when the father of one of the players approached an umpire with arms swinging.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the details on Thursday during the sentence hearing of a 41-year-old man charged with assaulting the umpire at Clan na Gael GAA club, Irishtown in Dublin.

Michael Kelly of Sherrard St Lower in the city pleaded guilty to committing the offence on March 5th, 2023.

The court heard that he did not actually strike him, but caused him the apprehension of being struck, which allows for a charge of assault under Section 2 of the Non-fatal Offences against the Person Act.

Garda David Walsh told the court that the game between two minor hurling teams had become a little fractious and some players had been sent off, with elevated tensions on the sporting pitch.

However, the referee was due to recommence the game when the umpire, Paul Keane, was approached by one of the players, the son of the accused, who was described by a witness as an imposing figure.

He testified that, in Keane’s view, the player was approaching him in a threatening and provocative manner, that he had queried why he was doing this and ultimately had to tell the player in robust terms to get away from him.

At that point, Keane turned around and saw the accused man running straight at him and trying to hit him, screaming: “What did you say to my son?”

“I just ducked out of the way,” he told gardaí. “He ran at me again, swinging punches at me. At that stage, I grabbed his two arms trying to restrain him and we fell to the ground.”

The court heard that matters then descended even further, and that other unidentified people struck Keane several times from behind while he was on the ground. He suffered a concussion and had to receive medical attention at VHI Swift Care.

The court heard that neither the concussion nor any other injuries were attributable to the accused. However, the initial assault by Kelly had led to the later events.

Both spectators and players, who were about 17 years of age, were distressed by the episode, with John Gallagher, prosecuting, describing it as “a very unwelcome intrusion at a sporting event”.

The court heard that Kelly had 20 previous convictions, mostly for road traffic offences, but including a circuit court conviction for assault causing harm.

Under cross-examination by Shaun Smyth, defending, Gda Walsh agreed that the match had already become an ill-tempered affair by the time of the assault, with the referee recalling that he had to dismiss another umpire.

Gda Walsh also accepted that Keane had landed on top of the accused when they fell to the ground, leaving him open to attack from behind.

He also agreed that those who had caused Keane’s injuries, who were many in number, were mostly not identified.

Smyth told the judge that his client had come at the umpire with swinging fists, causing him the apprehension of being struck, but that he hadn’t actually struck him.

Kelly was there to see his son play, but was not actually pitchside when things kicked off, he explained, having gone to the coffee truck.

“The first thing he saw when he returned was his son being spoken to robustly,” he said. “He made a stupid split-second decision.”

He hadn’t foreseen that the umpire could end up on the ground, assaulted by others, he suggested.

He said that Keane was to be commended for the way he dealt with his victim impact statement, which was handed into the court.

His first thoughts had been the impact of what had happened on the sport itself and on the young players. This was something also in his client’s thoughts, he said.

Counsel said that Kelly had grown up on Sherrard Street in the inner city, a difficult area to grow up in, was very young, had negative peer associations and was giving very little thought to his future when he had committed his previous convictions.

However, he had made efforts to graduate from that scenario and now employed eight men in his own construction business.

He had suffered a tragedy in 2021, when his second child died of sepsis after only two days of life.

He said that what his client had done was a serious aberration that would be marked by a criminal conviction, but asked the judge to allow him to continue contributing to society as a father and an employer.

Judge Orla Crowe remanded Kelly on continuing bail for sentence on April 13th, by which time enquiries should be made as to whether the injured party would accept his written apology and €1,000 he had brought as a token of his remorse.

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