A 41-year-old man who made what was described as a "stupid, split-second decision" to assault a GAA umpire, who had "robustly" spoken to his son in a fractious minor hurling match, has apologised for his actions.
Michael Kelly from Sherrard Street in Dublin had run towards umpire Paul Keane "swinging punches" but was brought to the ground when Mr Keane grabbed his arms to protect himself.
The two men ended up on the ground and the umpire was subjected to more serious assaults from other people who have not yet been identified.
Mr Kelly pleaded guilty to assault but the court was told he was not responsible for the injuries caused to Mr Keane by others.
Garda David Walsh told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the game at Sean Moore Park in Dublin on 5 March 2023 had become fractious as a result of a number of routine disciplinary sanctions and some players had been sent off leading to heated tensions on the pitch.
The accused man's then 17-year-old son had approached the umpire Mr Keane in what was seen as a "threatening and provocative manner" and was ultimately told "in robust terms" to get away.
In his statement to gardaí, Mr Keane said after this encounter he noticed the accused man come towards him trying to hit him and asking "what did you say to my son?"
Mr Keane told gardaí: "I seen him coming, I ducked out of the way and he ran at me again swinging punches and at that stage I grabbed his arms to restrain him and we both fell to the ground."
Garda Walsh told prosecuting counsel John Gallagher that further assaults took place on Mr Keane while he was on the ground but there was no suggestion that Mr Kelly was responsible for those assaults.
The court was told the offence of Section 2 assault in this case was the injured party's apprehension of being hit and falling to the ground.
A victim impact statement was handed into court but was not read out. Judge Orla Crowe noted the injured party had referred to a wrist injury and concussion but was told these injuries had not been caused by Mr Kelly.
Mr Kelly had written a letter of apology and offered €1,000 compensation but Garda Walsh said he had been uanble to contact Mr Keane to see if he was willing to accept either.
The garda confirmed that Mr Kelly has 20 previous convictions including one for assault when he was 19 years old along with public order offences, theft and road traffic offences.
Defence counsel Shaun Smyth said Mr Kelly was not at the pitchside when matters had become ill-tempered and out of control during the match.
He had gone to get a coffee and the first thing he saw when he returned was the umpire "speaking robustly" to his son.
Mr Smyth said "unfortunately his first thought was not 'let's find out what's wrong', he thought his son was under threat and made a "stupid split-second decision".
Mr Smyth said his client did not stop to think that his actions would result in Mr Keane ending up on the ground and being assaulted by others.
He said the umpire was to be commended for his very brief victim impact statement which focussed on the effect of the events on the players which Mr Smyth said was a measure of his character.
Mr Smyth said the "shocking scenes" had no place in sports, especially in an underage match and his client wanted to apologise to Mr Keane and to the court. He said the letter of apology written by his client to Mr Keane said he "could not apologise enough".
He said most of his previous convictions related to a single road traffic incident and the previous conviction for assault dated back to when he was 19.
He said Mr Kelly had thought he had left this type of offending behind and had since gone on to run his own construction company which employs eight people.
Character references were handed in from his employees and a former employer who said he was an "exemplary worker".
Mr Smyth asked the judge to give his client a chance to continue contributing to society as a father and as an employer.
Judge Crowe adjourned the case to 13 April next to allow time for the injured party to be consulted on whether or not he is willing to accept the letter of apology and the token of remorse.
