![\"GAA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/LIKWSLMBYREPBHVJNGZWFWJZEE.jpg\")
GAA coach Peter Martin. Photograph: Paul Molloy <\/p>\nA coach has said his GAA club became a place of \u201cdread and stress\u201d after it failed to support him but instead backed the club treasurer who was convicted of assaulting him at a men\u2019s senior football match. <\/p>\n
Brian Collins (73), who was the treasurer of Tullamore GAA until recent months, was on Tuesday given a suspended nine-month sentence for assault causing harm to Peter Martin. The incident occurred on the sidelines of a Tullamore senior men\u2019s football match on October 30th, 2024. <\/p>\n
The victim was diagnosed with concussion following the assault at half time during a men\u2019s senior football match at Tullamore GAA grounds. <\/p>\n
Judge Susan Fay ordered Collins to pay \u20ac2,000 compensation on top of Martin\u2019s \u20ac360 medical bills at a sentencing hearing in Tullamore District Court. <\/p>\n
She imposed a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, on the grounds that Collins be of good behaviour, have no contact with the victim and not enter Tullamore GAA\u2019s grounds during that period. <\/p>\n
Collins, with an address of T\/C Wood Products, Cloncollig, Tullamore, was convicted under Section 3 (1) and 3 (2) of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997. <\/p>\n
The case has proved divisive in Tullamore GAA, one of the largest GAA clubs in Offaly, with members split on how the club should have dealt with the case. <\/p>\n
In his victim impact statement handed in to the judge, Martin said his family have had to withdraw from the Tullamore GAA club over its handling of the case. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe club\u2019s response to the incident was deeply disappointing and hurtful,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe club committee, of which Brian was a part, chose to support Brian and ignore me. The verdict of the court has not changed this situation. Following Brian\u2019s assault on me and the position taken by the club committee, I stepped away from club involvement for my own physical and mental wellbeing. A place where I was welcome has become a place of dread and stress.\u201d <\/p>\n
GAA coach Peter Martin. Photograph: Paul Molloy <\/p>\n
Martin complained that Collins had remained club treasurer for 13 months after the assault, including a number of weeks after his conviction last October, when the case was adjourned for sentencing. <\/p>\n
He complained that Tom Moloney, the club\u2019s chairman, was among the club\u2019s executive committee members that accompanied Collins to the trial. <\/p>\n
He said other supporters of Collins from the club had \u201checkled\u201d him during his evidence. <\/p>\n
This left him \u201cfeeling isolated and unsupported\u201d. <\/p>\n
He complained that a member of the club had claimed at Tullamore GAA\u2019s agm that prosecution witnesses in the case had \u201ccommitted perjury\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to place on record that, to this day, I have received no offer of support or help from the committee of Tullamore GAA Club,\u201d Martin wrote. <\/p>\n
Addressing Collins, he said the club treasurer had \u201ccaused a lot of stress to my family and myself\u201d, and claimed he had shown \u201cno remorse\u201d.<\/p>\n
Martin said he engaged in a restorative justice process and hoped this would bring closure. However, he said Collins \u201cdemonstrated a staggering lack of remorse\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis incident has profoundly impacted both my family and myself,\u201d Martin wrote. \u201cThe assault caused physical harm, including concussion, but the psychological trauma has had a much wider effect. I\u2019ve had to remove myself from my GAA club, a place I had wonderful memories of, due to the anxiety and distress it now brings my family and I.\u201d <\/p>\n
Martin wrote that his family had faced harassment from some of Collins\u2019s supporters since the trial and said this had forced his family, including his son, who plays for the men\u2019s senior football team, to step away from the club. <\/p>\n
Martin said his three young daughters loved watching their brother play football but they now \u201cdread attending matches\u201d. <\/p>\n
Martin thanked garda\u00ed for their professionalism and his friends and family for their support. <\/p>\n
Contacted by phone after the sentencing, Tom Moloney, Tullamore GAA chairman, told The Irish Times that after the incident in October 2024, the club took advice \u201cfrom within the GAA\u201d. That advice was to \u201cnot get involved\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe let due process take its course,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are volunteers, we are not professionals.\u201d <\/p>\n
Asked about Martin\u2019s complaint that he had attended the trial and sat beside Collins in a show of support, Moloney said he was there \u201cas a personal friend\u201d to Collins. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou support your friend,\u201d said Moloney. \u201cI was not there in my capacity as club chairman. I was not there to make a statement. I was entitled to be there as a friend.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coach has said his GAA club became a place of \u201cdread and stress\u201d after it failed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4183,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-315374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}