Referee Jerome Henry has detailed the abuse to which he was subjected following the Connacht Senior Club Football Championship semi-final between Mountbellew-Moylough and Pádraig Pearses last month.
After losing the game by a point, Mountbellew-Moylough players confronted the official, and he was later escorted off the Hyde Park pitch.
In an addendum to his match report, the Mayoman says that after blowing this final whistle, he was pushed in the back and then "verbally abused and subjected to threatening conduct by a number of An Creagán/Maigh Locha players".
Henry continues:
"These An Creagán/Maigh Locha players surrounded me in a threatening demeanour and were less than 1m from me as they shouted verbal abuse such as, "You fucking cheat," "You’re a fucking prick", "Why didn’t you give us the fucking mark", "You fucking robbed us you prick”, “What the fuck ref", "You’re a fucking shocking referee", "Do you not know what a fucking mark is", "You are a fucking cheat, nothing else, a fucking cheat"."
11 December 2021; Referee Jerome Henry is escorted off the field after the AIB Connacht Senior Club Football Championship Semi-Final match between Pádraig Pearses and Mountbellew-Moylough at Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
He added that another player "came up to me, stood on my left foot and shoved me with force on the chest before shouting at me, "What the fuck, what the fuck".
"I was pushed in the back on two different occasions, but I was unable to identify who pushed me. I was verbally abused by other An Creagán/Maigh Locha players and panel members, but I could not identify who they were exactly."
In the dressing following the game, Henry was told by linesman Declan Corcoran that he had been "deliberately shoulder charged" by a Mountbellew-Moylough player.
Mountbellew-Moylough players were angry as they felt that with the game level in injury time in the second half, Barry McHugh should have been awarded a mark within shooting distance. However, the referee did not award a mark and Tom Bulter subsequently scored the winning point for Roscommon champions Pádraig Pearses.
Several players from Galway champions Mountbellew-Moylough are set for lengthy bans due to the scenes which followed the game.
Pádraig Pearses play Knockmore in the Connacht final this weekend.
Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
See Also: There Are Three Club Football And Hurling Finals On TV This Weekend
