Legends Delaney and McConville split on how prevalent abuse of banned substance might be in Gaelic games
Oisin McConville remembers being called for a drugs test during his playing days.
He had a clear conscience and produced a clear sample. But still, in a small corner of mind there was room for panic.
Yesterday, the former Armagh star was still digesting the news of a two-year ban for Thomas Connolly for steroid use - a story which has rocked the GAA world.
It's a development with a number of ramifications but McConville's background as a counsellor leads him to think of the individual first.
"For somebody like him, whose world probably, if he's like the rest of us, revolves around his sport and the fact that he can get out and blow off a bit of steam kicking a ball about. . . that's why I'd be worried about him, that he doesn't have an outlet now to express all that," said McConville.
"And this is when he needs it more than ever."
Perhaps an organisation of the scale of the GAA might have been expected to produce a positive sample at some stage. But opinion is split on just how prevalent the practice might be.
Kilkenny legend JJ Delaney reckons it would be 'naive' to believe Monaghan's Connolly is the only exception to an otherwise clean landscape.
Source: Donnchadh Boyle and James Donoghue, Irish Independent, 18/06/15
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
