Rory Gallagher - A dismissed case that was dealt with and brought to attention? Mod Note in OP

The question isn't "when did you stop beating your wife", the question is "did you beat your wife?"

It's not a trick question. It shouldn't need a trick answer.

because Gallagher didn't specifically address any of the accusations made means he is guilty

I'm not implying he's guilty at all, I have no clue.

However, if his statement today was supposed to placate public opinion, I can assure you it did the exact opposite. It was a bizarre tactic.

I live just a few miles from Fermanagh, and I meet & speak to people from the county regularly.

Let's just say that Rory Gallagher does not have a great reputation not only in his home county (especially among women), but also in south Co. Donegal as regards to elements of his non-GAA activities. Legally I couldn't tell any more than what's already been put in the media domain at present, other than to say that his sudden resignation from the Fermanagh senior football manager back in 2019 was itself very "unusual".

In a court of law, everyone is assumed innocent until presumed guilty - but the court of public opinion is different, like it or not. And for all the talk of his estranged wife's public comments being a "Facebook post", we are not dealing with some space cadet regurgitating conspiracy theory or "freeman" nonsense, this is straight from the mother of his children. The only thing "Facebook" about it is her choice of using it as a medium to get her message across. And they are quite serious allegations. Why Nicola Gallagher has gone down this route, I don't know but there's an awful lot of detail to what she claims.

Outside of the very personal situation between the two of them, it's clear that if Rory Gallagher appears in public in Clones on Sunday, then the Ulster SFC final is almost certainly going to be a sideshow even if Derry hammer Armagh - this is unlikely to blow over quickly especially if a lot of Irish women on social media & elsewhere get very vested in it. You only have to look at the former Ulster & Irish rugby player Paddy Jackson whom is essentially unemployable back in Belfast.

Clearly some people do not understand what insufficient evidence means.

Mrs Gallagher said she was an 18-year-old schoolgirl when she was beaten after being "dragged into a carpark in Clones" by "a person I trusted and thought was my best friend".

She added: "I forgave that man and I married him."

That was clever. 🙄 no one to blame but herself so in fairness.

I simply have my ear on the ground surrounding such local matters as anyone else can have to their own lives & localities, and what I do know is that cases of domestic & sexual abuses of & from both sexes is very difficult to get successfully prosecuted (as another poster says, rightly so as such accusations can be very detrimental to someone falsely accused) because of usually either insufficient or unreliable evidence, or a lack of willingness of the accused in wanting to take any case further at the time. As it is, I never said that I had "evidence" but those that have told me about him include former football team mates of his as well as those from Belleek (where he's originally from). I've heard too many stories over the years from otherwise whom I'd consider trustworthy people that are not used to telling little tales to dismiss it all.

As the matter involved is in the public domain now with both parties making public statements, then unless there is a legal development on it, discussing it here (or anywhere else) within the boards.ie rules or mod decisions, or laws of respective juristiction is fine and will happen wherever you or I like it or not. WRT the case involving child custody rights, these matters are almost always held in camera and so unless you were there, you (or I or anyone else not present) have no idea as to how the decision was reached, along with supporting evidence from both sides etc.

Indeed, as a supposedly anonymous poster, you appear to have a vested interest in applying a chilling effect on this discussion. Care to explain?