Clare county board has said no-one connected in any capacity with it or the senior hurling camp attempted to lobby the central hearings committee on Ian Galvin’s behalf.
Galvin’s appeal against the controversial red card he received against Cork was due to be heard on Monday, but it was deferred amid claims that members of the committee had been lobbied with a view to influencing the case.
The committee has since imposed a one-match suspension on Galvin, who will now miss Sunday’s Munster SHC clash with All-Ireland champions Limerick in Ennis.
Galvin was contesting his red card against Cork last Sunday week, in a case originally due to be heard last Monday night only to be delayed in controversial circumstances for three days.
On Wednesday Clare County Board chairman Kieran Keating said that no one connected with the board had made any attempt to influence the proceedings.
“It wasn’t anyone on our executive or anyone connected with us. I don’t know who it was, if it was one person or more, but it certainly wasn’t anyone connected with Clare, with any knowledge of Clare county board or the executive or with its approval. We didn’t have knowledge of anyone who would make contact.
“I wouldn’t know anyone who was on the hearings committee and generally people wouldn’t. It’s a bit strange. We don’t know if it was nefarious, was someone trying to delay the process.
“Anyone right minded wouldn’t think that calling members of a hearings committee is going to do you any favours. People wouldn’t be on a hearings committee unless they were upstanding.”
He also said that no one close to the Clare senior hurling team was involved in any attempt to subvert the process.
“It wasn’t anyone from Brian’s backroom team or anyone with his knowledge, it wasn’t anyone with the county board’s knowledge.
“We’ve asked Croke Park who it was, I don’t know if they’re going to tell us or what we can do if they do, but the main thing is there is a process for Ian Galvin to have a hearing on his red card. We have to get that attended to and that’s the focus first of all.”
He said that Clare certainly haven’t benefited from the situation, and that all involved only wanted due process.
“We just want the case heard properly, it doesn’t serve us that this happened.”
While Clare were dealing with that issue this week, Limerick have problems of their own ahead of Sunday’s Cusack Park clash.
On Tuesday night it was reported that a member of the Limerick panel had been arrested following an assault on a Tipperary hurler in a Limerick city pub, just hours after the two sides had faced each other last Sunday.
A statement released by the Limerick senior hurling management said, “On Sunday last a member of the Limerick senior hurling squad was involved in a breach of our team protocols. The matter has been dealt with by management internally and no further comment will be made on the matter at this time.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.