Diarmuid Connolly

cocoman · 27-05-2014 07:33PM #1

I see that Diarmuid Connolly has been "sentenced" to 80 hours community service teaching kids GAA. What a load of crap!!! They courts should make him do it in Castlebar!!!!
The disgraced bankers will probably do theirs in their local credit union.

Grats · 27-05-2014 07:56PM

You feel better now?

senordingdong · 27-05-2014 09:03PM

In fairness, the judge is obliged to consider things like 'no previous' and 'off good character' but I agree that sentencing him to do something he would arguably enjoy seems counter productive.

wazzer1 · 27-05-2014 09:06PM

Be no harm to do it in Castlebar, seeing as he already gave them a lesson in how to play football on Paddys day

:D

Fr Tod Umptious · 27-05-2014 09:38PM

senordingdong wrote: »

In fairness, the judge is obliged to consider things like 'no previous' and 'off good character' but I agree that sentencing him to do something he would arguably enjoy seems counter productive.

The guy is a football player, but that is no guarantee that he will enjoy training kids.

Plus is it not better for the kids that they get the chance to learn football from a top player, rather than a former bank executive !

jacko · 28-05-2014 11:25AM

shocking decision. So a scumbag beats up someone in a nightclub. His punishment is to coach kids and become a role model for them. What a joke.

1. Dublin GAA should have had the balls to put their foot down and drop him from the panel while the case is pending. Behavior like that should not be tolerated and to have him representing the county is poor form.

2. If the judge is going to cop out and give a mickey mouse punishment like community service then he should be out on the streets picking up dog sh!t.

nice_guy80 · 28-05-2014 11:31AM

That would involve Dublin GAA isolating one of its top players
Ain't going to happen, or for any other county either

jacko · 28-05-2014 11:35AM

nice_guy80 wrote: »

That would involve Dublin GAA isolating one of its top players
Ain't going to happen, or for any other county either

yea, that's just the way it is i guess, still doesn't make it right :mad:

Past30Now · 28-05-2014 11:37AM

jacko wrote: »

shocking decision. So a scumbag beats up someone in a nightclub. His punishment is to coach kids and become a role model for them. What a joke.

1. Dublin GAA should have had the balls to put their foot down and drop him from the panel while the case is pending. Behavior like that should not be tolerated and to have him representing the county is poor form.

Complete rubbish. Have you never heard of the maxim of innocent until proved otherwise.

jacko wrote: »

2. If the judge is going to cop out and give a mickey mouse punishment like community service then he should be out on the streets picking up dog sh!t.

What do you consider an appropriate punishment in this case? A judge, who clearly has a great deal of experience in these matters, has decided that 80 hours community service is the appropriate service.

He did wrong, he's gone through a court case, and has been found guilty and appropriately punished, as far as the presiding judge is concerned. Apart from that, he is a senior inter county footballer, All Ireland winner for club and county, who through hard work and dedication has become one of the top 5 players in the country. He is a great example to our kids, and he'd be welcome to my club anytime.

Past30Now · 28-05-2014 11:38AM

I can't believe my 100th post was defending a Vincents player. I feel ill.

nice_guy80 · 28-05-2014 11:45AM

Past30Now wrote: »

Complete rubbish. Have you never heard of the maxim of innocent until proved otherwise.

What do you consider an appropriate punishment in this case? A judge, who clearly has a great deal of experience in these matters, has decided that 80 hours community service is the appropriate service.

He did wrong, he's gone through a court case, and has been found guilty and appropriately punished, as far as the presiding judge is concerned. Apart from that, he is a senior inter county footballer, All Ireland winner for club and county, who through hard work and dedication has become one of the top 5 players in the country. He is a great example to our kids, and he'd be welcome to my club anytime.

he was already found guilty and admitted guilt.
yesterday was his sentencing.
I would have though county teams would have codes of discipline for players and management

jacko · 28-05-2014 11:49AM

Past30Now wrote: »

Complete rubbish. Have you never heard of the maxim of innocent until proved otherwise.

I think you're missing something here... he has admitted guilt

I consider the 'punishment' completely inappropriate. By coaching these kids he is going to become a role model for them. I for one would love for an intercounty player to come to my club, but under much much different circumstances.

As I stated, put him out picking up rubbish or dog sh!t. Let people see him doing something that he would absolutely hate doing, coaching kids is not exactly going to be much of a punishment.

TheGoldenAges · 28-05-2014 11:53AM

jacko wrote: »

I think you're missing something here... he has admitted guilt

I consider the 'punishment' completely inappropriate. By coaching these kids he is going to become a role model for them. I for one would love for an intercounty player to come to my club, but under much much different circumstances.

As I stated, put him out picking up rubbish or dog sh!t. Let people see him doing something that he would absolutely hate doing, coaching kids is not exactly going to be much of a punishment.

Yes but it'll be better good for the wider community to have a footballer many kids admire due to being a top player on the pitch coaching, might keep kids active, fit and out of trouble.

freddiek · 28-05-2014 11:57AM

guarantee you if he hailed from a less successful county without a media profile he'd have got jail or a lesser but more appropriate punishment than this ridiculous little 'slap on the wrist' from the Judge.

Godge · 28-05-2014 11:59AM

The weekly anti Dublin thread turns its attention to Diarmuid Connolly.

If only we could go back through the years and check whether every county player ever convicted of a minor offence was similarly treated. There were loads of lads who got picked for county teams and club teams because of their hard man reputation (often proven in District Courts of a Monday morning).

In reality there is nothing to see here.

Tom Joad · 28-05-2014 12:00PM

freddiek wrote: »

guarantee you if he hailed from a less successful county without a media profile he'd have got jail or a lesser but more appropriate punishment than this ridiculous little 'slap on the wrist' from the Judge.

Guarantee if it wasn't a Dublin player we wouldn't hear your opinion on the matter

MayoAreMagic · 28-05-2014 12:13PM

Come on now Dublin posters. No need to wheel round the wagons. It is a pretty lenient sentence to be fair. The real issue here is, will it to do him any good or will he have to learn his lesson further down the road? At the end of the day, footballer or not, this guy committed a worrying act that he shouldn't have and needs to serve sufficient punishment and treatment for it. He seems to have anger issues, some compulsory treatment for such things would have served both him and the community far better.

Godge · 28-05-2014 12:15PM

freddiek wrote: »

guarantee you if he hailed from a less successful county without a media profile he'd have got jail or a lesser but more appropriate punishment than this ridiculous little 'slap on the wrist' from the Judge.

http://emigrant.scoilpac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=67851&Itemid=24

It took 11 convictions for this GAA player to finally get a custodial sentence, and even on the 12th, his manager gave him a charcter reference.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0306/600487-aloysius-hackett/

Another GAA man who killed his father defended by a GAA manager. (at least he got a life sentence)

http://www.thestar.ie/star/no-jail-for-gaa-star-kenneth-darby-who-broke-opponents-jaw-in-three-places-27285/

Breaking an opponent's jaw and no jail.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/gaa-star-to-make-donation-after-player-assault-177088.html

James McCartan didn't even do community service.

http://westcorktimes.com/home/archives/2637

A €1,000 fine, someone taking the mickey?

https://www.esforum.org/showthread.php?tid=4292

Another one gets away

Give it up on the anti-Dublin rants.

Godge · 28-05-2014 12:16PM

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Come on now Dublin posters. No need to wheel round the wagons. It is a pretty lenient sentence to be fair. The real issue here is, will it to do him any good or will he have to learn his lesson further down the road? At the end of the day, footballer or not, this guy committed a worrying act that he shouldn't have and needs to serve sufficient punishment and treatment for it. He seems to have anger issues, some compulsory treatment for such things would have served both him and the community far better.

LOL, find me examples of GAA players anywhere else in the country being similarly harshly treated.

Woodround · 28-05-2014 12:17PM

Godge wrote: »

If only we could go back through the years and check whether every county player ever convicted of a minor offence was similarly treated.

In fairness it was far from a 'minor offence'.

He subjected a man to an unprovoked attack. He punched him in the face for absolutely no reason, knocking him to the ground and then continued to punch the the lad while he was defenceless on the ground. He fractured the lads eye socket, which is an horrific injury to experience.

Nothing minor about any of that.

keane2097 · 28-05-2014 12:25PM

In fairness it does seem bizarre to send a guy who has been convicted of a fairly serious violent assault off to work with kids for 80 hours.

Don't you normally need Garda clearance if you want to work with kids?

hairycakes · 28-05-2014 12:26PM

I think it is a pretty lenient sentence regardless of who committed the crime, Dublin footballer or not. I also wouldn't see it as much of a punishment for an intercounty footballer (Dublin doesn't come into it). It'll be great for the kids and probably the coaches too but where is the punishment in getting fawned over at a club?

MayoAreMagic · 28-05-2014 12:27PM

Nobody said he had to go to jail.

In the examples you offered, one guy got a 3 year suspended sentence and paid over 12 grand, McCartan had to pay 10 grand plus over a grand legal expenses, those were single punches in the heat of a match. Connolly's was a sustained unprovoked assault on a randomer. Do you know the force required to do that to someone's eye-socket? Your biased posts are doing his case no favours.

Godge · 28-05-2014 12:34PM

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

He seems to have anger issues, some compulsory treatment for such things would have served both him and the community far better.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/gaa-star-ordered-to-coach-youngsters-after-pub-attack-30310031.html

"He had also been ordered to complete an anger-management course"

Woodround wrote: »

In fairness it was far from a 'minor offence'.

He subjected a man to an unprovoked attack. He punched him in the face for absolutely no reason, knocking him to the ground and then continued to punch the the lad while he was defenceless on the ground. He fractured the lads eye socket, which is an horrific injury to experience.

Nothing minor about any of that.

And breaking someone's jaw ala James McCartan warrants a lesser sentence without community service? Need a bit of perspective here.

keane2097 wrote: »

In fairness it does seem bizarre to send a guy who has been convicted of a fairly serious violent assault off to work with kids for 80 hours.

Don't you normally need Garda clearance if you want to work with kids?

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/criminal_law/criminal_trial/types_of_sentences.html

"Community service orders (CSOs) are provided for by the Criminal Justice (Community Service) Act 1983. For your punishment, you are required to do some work which is beneficial to the community. CSOs are imposed by a judge instead of a prison sentence.

A number of considerations must be met before a CSO can be made by a judge:

You must be suitable for community service (The judge orders a probation report to decide whether you are suitable for a CSO)
Suitable community work must be available for you to do
You must agree to the CSO
The total number of hours of community service cannot exceed 240 hours and you must complete the community service within one year of the making of the order."

In this case the judge ordered a probation report and acted appropriately upon receipt.

There are plenty of examples from Ireland and the UK of sportsmen carrying out similar community service.

Past30Now · 28-05-2014 12:34PM

jacko wrote: »

1. Dublin GAA should have had the balls to put their foot down and drop him from the panel while the case is pending. Behavior like that should not be tolerated and to have him representing the county is poor form.

jacko wrote: »

I think you're missing something here... he has admitted guilt

Sorry Jacko, I read your point 1 above as referring to the period between the offence and the trial, i.e. while the case was pending. My point was during that period Dublin would have been wrong to act while the case was pending, and possibly prejudicial to his case.

As for them acting since the trial, and before the sentencing, I'd suggest Dublin would also have been wrong. Even now, I don't see a good reason for them to act against DC. He committed a crime, was convicted in a court of law, appropriately punished, and will now serve his sentence.

Finally, 80 hours of community service, whether cleaning up dogsh!t or training kids, is a lot of time.

MayoAreMagic · 28-05-2014 12:36PM

I just realised that another of your examples is a case involving a man who had mental issues ranging up to and including schizophrenia. It is shameful the depths some people will go to make their case sound more believable on an internet forum.

Godge · 28-05-2014 12:36PM

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Nobody said he had to go to jail.

In the examples you offered, one guy got a 3 year suspended sentence and paid over 12 grand, McCartan had to pay 10 grand plus over a grand legal expenses, those were single punches in the heat of a match. Connolly's was a sustained unprovoked assault on a randomer. Do you know the force required to do that to someone's eye-socket? Your biased posts are doing his case no favours.

My posts have no effect on his conviction. He was tried fairly, convicted and sentenced in accordance with the law of the land. I have no problem with that and there are many examples of people being treated similarly or more leniently. I have restricted my examples to the world of sport but I could produce many others.

keane2097 · 28-05-2014 12:38PM

Fair enough. Seems like a lenient sentence compared to the status quo but I'm not exactly a big fan of retributive justice in any case so wouldn't have a big issue with it.

Hopefully he puts his back into it and the kids get a lot out of it. I'm sure he will.

Also fingers crossed he's taken the anger management seriously, could be a big benefit to him.

Ceist_Beag · 28-05-2014 12:38PM

In fairness to Connolly, he admitted guilt, offered compensation to the victim (who refused it) and then gave the compensation to charity (and the judge said the amount donated exceeded the maximum fine the courts could have imposed) so it sounds to me like a guy who was really contrite and his victim did not seem to want anything other than a guilty verdict so I can't see the point of imposing a harsher sentence than was imposed here. However I agree it seems strange to send him off to work with kids - it might have been better to get him to work with victims of assault so that he can see the impact of senseless assaults and might ensure he learns his lesson.

keane2097 · 28-05-2014 12:40PM

Ceist_Beag wrote: »

In fairness to Connolly, he admitted guilt, offered compensation to the victim (who refused it) and then gave the compensation to charity (and the judge said the amount donated exceeded the maximum fine the courts could have imposed) so it sounds to me like a guy who was really contrite and his victim did not seem to want anything other than a guilty verdict so I can't see the point of imposing a harsher sentence than was imposed here. However I agree it seems strange to send him off to work with kids - it might have been better to get him to work with victims of assault so that he can see the impact of senseless assaults and might ensure he learns his lesson.

In fairness to Connolly, after the obviously dreadful initial act he's more or less acted as well as he could have in the aftermath.

MayoAreMagic · 28-05-2014 12:48PM

My posts have no effect on his conviction. He was tried fairly, convicted and sentenced in accordance with the law of the land. I have no problem with that and there are many examples of people being treated similarly or more leniently. I have restricted my examples to the world of sport but I could produce many others.

No you haven't actually, I just displayed how these lesser assaults you listed (one of which involved a man who was mentally unstable - frankly a ludicrous example to offer) actually carried harsher punishments. He offered 5 grand, McCartan had to pay well over double that figure for a single strike in a match. Your point was that they didn't go to jail, but nobody said Connolly had to go to jail. Your examples were not treated anywhere near as leniently, in fact they were more harsh.

Diarmuid Connolly

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