THE CHARGE GIVEN to a Tullamore GAA member after he pushed referee Barry Tiernan in the back following the club’s loss in the Leinster senior club football championship to Summerhill has been changed, resulting in a lesser penalty than the proposed suspension of 96 weeks.

The individual was not a part of the matchday panel and the charge has been changed to one of ‘bringing the Association into disrepute’. Initially the incident was being examined as a potential assault.  

Bringing the Association into disrepute carries a minimum penalty of an eight-week suspension, and the club member has been handed the proposed penalty of a 24-week suspension. 

The incident followed the game on 22 October at O’Connor Park after controversial scenes in second-half stoppage time. 

Tullamore trailed by two points after four minutes of injury time.

A high ball into the Summerhill goalmouth was fielded but ultimately handled on the ground inside the large parallelogram by Adam Flanagan of the Meath champions.

Tiernan initially awarded a 13-metre free, but then changed his decision to a penalty, on the advice of his umpire. He then reverted to a free kick after an intervention from his linesman, just as Tullamore full-back Paul McConway stood over the spot kick.

Over three minutes of delay was followed by John Furlong attempting to find the net from the free kick.

With 13 Summerhill players on the line, his shot was blocked, but there was still more play until the final whistle sounded with roughly 72 minutes on the clock.

Immediately on the final whistle sounded, a number of players, officials and supporters from the Tullamore club crowded around Tiernan to remonstrate with the Dublin referee.

This culminated by Tiernan being pushed in the back by the individual in question, before he was led away.