{"id":355280,"date":"2026-02-25T09:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/355280\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:16:09","slug":"sinn-fein-td-did-not-see-who-threw-flares-during-dundalk-drogheda-derby-game-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/355280\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in TD \u2018did not see who threw flares\u2019 during Dundalk-Drogheda derby game \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> TD Joanna Byrne, who is chair of Drogheda United<\/a>, has said she did not see the individuals responsible for the damage to Dundalk FC<\/a>\u2019s new all-weather pitch during the game between the clubs on Friday.<\/p>\n

The AstroTurf pitch at Oriel Park was being used for the first time, but was damaged after flares were thrown on to the surface<\/a> by Drogheda FC fans during the game.<\/p>\n

The indident led Minister for Sport Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> to stop any further public funding for such synthetic pitches in the League of Ireland<\/a> (LOI).<\/p>\n

Speaking on Tuesday, O\u2019Donovan said no public representative \u201ccould really go into hiding\u201d over the events at Dundalk FC on Friday night. <\/p>\n

In what was taken as a reference to the Sinn F\u00e9in TD, who is also the party\u2019s spokeswoman on sport, O\u2019Donovan said it was \u201cincumbent on people in positions of authority, and particularly spokespersons on sport, to make their views clear\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"DamageDamage to the Dundalk pitch after the game. Photograph: Nick Elliott\/INPHO <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said what I\u2019ve said, I think, look, Joanna Byrne can answer for Joanna Byrne, but I think that anybody who was there on the night and saw what I saw in a political context should condemn it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think, you know, if they don\u2019t, their silence will speak volumes to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sinn F\u00e9in TD to \u2018resist\u2019 removal as Drogheda United chair after call for Ireland to boycott Israel fixtures<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Byrne declined to answer questions on Monday and Sinn F\u00e9in said she would not be issuing any statement on the issue.<\/p>\n

However, she responded to The Irish Times on Tuesday in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at the match on Friday night and did see it all from a distance. Unfortunately, I was up in the main stand and not down on the terraces to see individuals first-hand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur CEO met with Dundalk FC CEO this morning to further review. At this point I\u2019m not aware of specific individuals identified, but I know both clubs are working collectively on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a personal level, there\u2019s no condoning any of the actions of Friday night. What should have been a very proud night for Dundalk FC was tainted by these actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think any right-minded football supporter in the LOI would condemn this strongly, as do I.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LOI Premier Division game finished 1-1 after Drogheda scored a late equaliser in the Louth derby.<\/p>\n

The Department of Sport<\/a> said that in the 2020 and 2023 funding rounds, eight League of Ireland clubs had received funding allocations for AstroTurf pitches. <\/p>\n

Of these, one allocation has been fully drawn down and a second allocation has drawn down 95 per cent of its funding. Of the remaining six clubs, one allocation is for a training pitch, not a main facility pitch.<\/p>\n

The Department allocated \u20ac454,228 under the 2023 round to Dundalk for an AstroTurf pitch and floodlights. The estimated cost of the overall project, as supplied by Dundalk at the application stage, was \u20ac872,790.<\/p>\n

Dundalk FC supplied quotes of \u20ac291,830 for the artificial pitch and \u20ac175,560 for floodlights at formal approval stage. <\/p>\n

The department has to date reimbursed the club \u20ac152,452 towards the AstroTurf pitch, with \u20ac139,378 remaining to be paid. No payments have yet been requested for the floodlights, a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donovan has said that no further funding would be allocated until the League of Ireland and the Football Association of Ireland<\/a> convince him they have brought the problems seen at Dundalk last weekend under control.<\/p>\n

Labour TD Duncan Smith<\/a> has criticised O\u2019Donovan over his withdrawal of funding for pitches.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the D\u00e1il the Dublin Fingal East TD called for a debate on football because of the \u201cvengeful, over-the-top collective punishment response\u201d of the Minister to the issue.<\/p>\n

He said O\u2019Donovan\u2019s reaction \u201cbetrays an anti-football bias in the Minister which I hope is not reflected in the Government and we need a debate on it\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sinn F\u00e9in TD Joanna Byrne, who is chair of Drogheda United, has said she did not see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,166316,162671,155338,84512,18,13,14,21278,6,19,17,11,12,6435,23664,15,16,5,36103,47,4335,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-355280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-department-of-sport","11":"tag-drogheda-united","12":"tag-duncan-smith","13":"tag-dundalk-fc","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-featured-news","16":"tag-featurednews","17":"tag-football-association-of-ireland-fai","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-league-of-ireland","24":"tag-louth","25":"tag-main-news","26":"tag-mainnews","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-patrick-o-donovan","29":"tag-sinn-fein","30":"tag-soccer","31":"tag-top-stories","32":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116130518312732762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}