Jerome Henry: The players shouted: 'You f**king cheat,' 'You’re a f**king p***k'
Players Pearses Dr The Mountbellew/moylough Park After Hyde Confront Connacht Defeat Club Jerome Rosmon In Referee To Aib Semi Final Henry Sfc Pádraig At
Referee Jerome Henry has described in graphic detail the horrific abuse he suffered in the aftermath of last month’s controversial AIB Connacht Club SFC semi-final.
Henry had to be escorted from the pitch by stewards and officials after he was confronted by angry Mountbellew-Moylough players following their defeat to Pádraig Pearses in the provincial clash at Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon.
In his official report on the incident, the match official detailed the verbal and physical abuse that he and his colleagues suffered in the aftermath.
The Galway champions ended the game with 13 players and were infuriated by a number of late calls in the one-point loss, one of which was Barry McHugh not receiving a mark when the sides were level.
"After I blew my whistle to signal the end of the game, I was knocked forward due to being pushed strongly in my back," he opens in an addendum to his match report from the fixture.
"I was then verbally abused and subjected to threatening conduct by a number of An Creagán/Maigh Locha players."
Henry, who names the players in the report, continues: "These An Creagán/Maigh Locha players surrounded me in a threatening demeanour and were less than 1m from me as they shouted verbal abuse such as, 'You f**king cheat,' 'You’re a f**king p***k', 'Why didn’t you give us the f**king mark’, 'You f**king robbed us you p***k”, “What the f**k ref',
“You’re a f**king shocking referee”, “Do you not know what a f**king mark is”, “You are a f**king cheat, nothing else, a f**king cheat”."
Henry also claims one Mountbellew/Moylough team member "came up to me, stood on my left foot and shoved me with force on the chest before shouting at me, 'What the f**k, what the f**k'."
As well as that, he recounts being "pushed in the back on two different occasions, but I was unable to identify who pushed me. I was verbally abused by other An Creagán/Maigh Locha players and panel members, but I could not identify who they were exactly."
Henry also states he wasn't the only match official who was physically assaulted on the day.
"When I was in the dressing room with my fellow match officials after the game, linesman Declan Corcoran told me that he had been deliberately shoulder charged..."
The Irish Examiner understands at least six players have been proposed significant suspensions by the Connacht Council's competitions controls committee.