What Rory Gallagher’s dad is said to have faced at Donegal game should make us all weep for GAA

For God's sake, it's only a game and it's only a man trying his hardest to succeed.

Donegal legend Brian McEniff has claimed that Rory Gallagher's dad was abused on Saturday during the Round 4 defeat to Galway. Listen, it was an awful performance. They were torn a new one in Sligo and completely flattered to deceive again after being talked up again. It's the third year in a row since McGuinness left that they were kicked from the championship in comprehensive fashion and, if anyone was in denial before, it's clear for all to see now that the county really is in transition. And, hey, just because this is an amateur sport and all that, it doesn't mean that players and managers can't be criticised. We're talking about our national games, we're discussing elite level performers representing whole counties and they're going to be scrutinised whether you like it or not. Donegal, even with all their youth, deserved criticism for how flat they were against Galway and how limply they surrendered. Rory Gallagher should be asked questions for why he was left to firefight in the first half again. Four subs were made before the second period even begun. But that's where you draw the line. Right there. Don't start insulting the man for the sake of it. Don't fall into the trap a certain Roscommon veteran did by referencing Kevin McStay's Mayo roots. Don't, for the love of God, take to abusing an elderly fella sitting minding his own business in the stands because he happens to have a son at the head of a team who have ultimately let him down on the big day - for whatever reason. Former All-Ireland winning manager Brian McEniff told a despicable tale in the Donegal Democrat about what he had heard from that game in Markievicz Park.

"I want to condemn out of hand the abuse suffered by Rory Gallagher’s father, Gerry, at the game on Saturday evening by a number of Donegal supporters," told Tom Comack of the Donegal Democrat. "I did not see the incident myself but I was made aware of it. If I had seen it I would have intervened because that type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. "Gerry Gallagher is a decent man and in no way deserved the kind of abuse I’m told he received on Saturday. It must be condemned by us all and it must be stamped out."

Most people in the GAA would definitely go along with that. The rivalries in these games are awesome - they're what make the whole association sometimes - but keep them on the pitch and keep them, at the very least, directed towards the pitch.