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04th Nov 2015

Ulster GAA deny claim that Tyrone minors cleared of sledging Donegal teenager

Be careful what you read

Kevin McGillicuddy

Ulster GAA says no to revealing what their investigation into alleged sledging has found.

Earlier his summer many GAA fans were left disgusted by reports that alleged a Donegal minor footballer had been insulted about the death of a family member by a Tyrone footballer when the counties clashed on May 17th in Ballybofey

The allegation was made by Donegal minor boss Declan Bonner after the match but was strongly denied by Tyrone officials at the time.

A full investigation was launched by the provincial body, but last night reports seemed to suggest that the allegation Tyrone’s minors had engaged in sledging were unproven

The website claimed that an investigation by the Ulster Council had cleared any Tyrone players of any wrongdoing while the Donegal county board claimed that the report did not exonerate anyone of anything that the website claimed.

A statement was expected from the Ulster GAA Council to finally clarify the matter this evening, and it seems that reports that the Tyrone players had been wrongly tarred with sledging and had been cleared is wide of the mark.

Instead the Ulster Council this evening claims that the dispute between both sides has been settled, but that the conclusion reached by the investigation is at odds to what was reported on Tuesday night

Following a request from the Tyrone County Committee, Ulster GAA through its CCC established an Investigation Committee in May 2015 which met on seven occasions over a four month period to review evidence and witness statements alongside conducting a range of interviews with the relevant parties.

“At a meeting on Wednesday 23rd September the Committee reviewed its findings with both Tyrone and Donegal and the concluding report was agreed by all parties. The Committee agreed with both County Committees that the findings will remain confidential. We would also highlight that recent media reports regarding the investigation do not accurately reflect the findings of the Committee.

“All parties were satisfied that this matter was resolved and there will be no further comment from Ulster GAA.”

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