Public enraged by GAA coma footballer’s attacker’s 96-day ban

In response to Archer50d you seem to talk as if you have found the man Patrick at fault, did you see the match, easy to make judgement, if there was a witness to what happened why have they not come forward, umm that would mean there was none, talk is very cheap and who heard him say you will not get up from that, if someone heard that they must have seen SOMETHING, or really was it just a sporting accident, you talk a bunch of rumbish, how can you compare this to OJ you ole coward

Being a yank I mostly follow American Football. Over the years I have seen some truly vicious hits- ones that knocked a player out for a quarter, a game, a season or in a few cases, for life. The majority have been clean, legal hits. Then there are those that draw a foul. Rarely is the miscreant ejected from the game and even more seldom suspended. I think that if the sport was really serious about minimizing this kind of behavior all that those in charge need to do is this: If a flag is thrown and it results in the victim being too disabled to play- that should be how long the assaulting player sits out. If the injured player never plays again, well that's just too bad for the hitter. Time to find another trade.

pmohinoaklawnillinois, You asked me why no one has come forward to tell the GAA or the SFPD that it was only a tussle? The reason is because no one witnessed it and it is only a personnel opinion of mine, not fact, which I believe I clearly stated. It may be hard to believe that no one saw what happened but that unfortunately is a fact, Joe Duffy was at the match, did he see anything? What about all of Ulster’s management and team? Did they see anything? No because it was a brief incident that occurred off the ball. All I was saying is that there is no proof what exactly happened, yes I agree a player received very serious injuries, which does warrant an investigation and punishment should it be dissevered, however the author of the page is stating opinions as if they were facts. When he previously mentioned Mark getting kicked in the head, that was a total fabrication and should not have been mentioned now he is stating factually that Patrick assaulted Mark, maybe all the signs point to that but where is the proof? How do we not know that Mark swung at Patrick and he was only defending himself? We do not. So until we know for sure what happened all gossip and opinions should be labeled as what they are.

Patrick Power is OJ .. He got away with it. On a serious note , no the punishment did not fit the crime and he should have been tried on criminal charges but the folks at croke park couldnt let that happen when they advertise Ireland every sunday on the sunday game in an effort to attract tourists .I agree with the hear no evil ,see no evil , speak no evil in the other post too . I wonder is the INS ran the names of the players involved through the system ? who knows maybe patrick power is really A.N OTHER . I just spotted on the Irish independent that theres a fund raiser for the victim in cavan tonight , hang on a second , the victim was playing the sport he loved , wheres the president of the GAA with his checkbook ,let the GAA clean up this issue and pay for the players medical expenses , or wait , did we not have enough replays in the championship in 2011 to cover the medical bill. GAA GRAB ALL ASSOCIATION . Typical . I do hope the injured player recovers and is able to play the game he loves once again and as for Patrick Power , not sure if Id ever show up at a gaa field ever again dude , its over for you , what goes around comes around ....

The article's headline says "...96 day ban.." The story text says "...96 week ban...". Which is correct????

SFLocal,If this incident was just a "tussle" as you say between these two players, why hasn't anyone come forward to tell the SF GAA Board or the SFPD about it??? I think that is one question you should be asking yourself. Mark McGovern suffered a serious brain injury resulting from this incident costing over a million dollars. I think your portraying it as a "tussle" is seriously understating what happened. I also find it hard to believe that no-one at the game on TI that afternoon didn't see anything or hear anything that was said to Mark McGovern as he way lying on the ground.

He should have gotten a prison sentence. Where's the justice?

I am sick and tired of reading false accusations and poorly researched / edited articles on this website. I remember reading on this web site that Mr. McGovern was kicked in the head while he lay on the ground! That statement was total bull based on no evidence what so ever and which leads to people having a distorted view of what happened. It appears that the authors are giving their personnel, uneducated and biased views of what happened rather than the cold hard facts. If you read on any other website that covers the story none of them say he was assaulted because it is not known if he was on not. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? The ban handed down by the GAA was not for assault. There were no witness because it was an off the ball incident, there was probably between 50 – 100 people at the game plus a video camera. Twenty or so of which would have been Mr. McGovern’s own team mates, if there was a major fight or a kick to the head it would have been witnessed. I am currently living in SF with no affiliation with either club associated with this incident; I would not even be the biggest supporter of the GAA as I personally believe they are a money hungry organization but do regularly attend the games on TI to support the local community. My personnel opinion (not cold hard facts but opinion) is that it was a tussle, the likes of which happened 20 times during every single game of football ever played and unfortunately during this tussle a connection was made that resulted in a serious injury.

Typical GAA in the North American Board area. Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil, except for certain clubs. I'm sure there are people who were at that game that saw what happened but because the GAA in the North American Board area have the above attitude this thug that hit this kid gets away scot-free with a 2 year suspension. Totally disgusting and inadequate.

Since responsibility for the attack and injuries has been established the family is now free to file a civil lawsuit for damages against the player and possibly also the GAA and the referee for allowing that sort of play - and it does NOT happen unless there is an accepted culture of violence on the field. Now that it has been established that Patrick Power committed the assault which resulted in serious injury, local law enforcement should file criminal charges of felony assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm and hand him a much longer suspension to be served in prison.