DERRY defender Gareth McKinless has opened up about his two-match ban for standing on Damien Comer’s leg last summer, revealing he contacted the Galway star to apologise.
Former All-Star McKinless received a red card and the subsequent ban for treading on the back of Comer’s leg after initially fouling him in their All-Ireland SFC group game.
It was a turning point in a game that went Galway’s way, leaving National League winners Derry to stew over back-to-back Championship losses following their chaotic defeat to Donegal in Ulster.
McKinless has described the incident as a ‘bad error of judgement’ and a ‘stupid mistake’ though he insisted there was ‘no malice’ in it.
“I was chatting to him, obviously I apologised,” said McKinless of Comer.
“And look, he’s been around the block long enough and he understands that things can get heated and things happen. There was no malice in it. It was just a stupid incident. I told him we’d see each other again so hopefully we’ll be playing on the same pitch again soon.”
McKinless was heavily criticised after the sending off, with Galway manager Padraic Joyce claiming it was a ‘horrendous thing to do’. Former Derry player Joe Brolly said it was ‘a shocking and outrageous act which made me ashamed to be a Derry man’.
It wasn’t his first brush with the GAA disciplinary process as a 48-week ban following disturbances in the 2014 Derry county final was later halved.
More recently, a two-match ban was proposed following the 2024 Derry intermediate final replay win over Faughanvale, though the sanction was successfully appealed to the Disputes Resolution Authority.
McKinless, speaking ahead of Ballinderry’s AIB All-Ireland club intermediate final against Crossmolina, which was due to be played tomorrow but which has been postponed, said there was more to the Comer flashpoint than may have been apparent.
“The thing about it is probably that everyone sees the incident and thinks, ‘Oh, two-game ban, stupid’, whatever and so-and-so’,” he said.
“But I always believe that that incident is a combination of multiple things, that it’s just a result of. That’s in terms of on-field prep, off-field prep, even what’s (going on) in your life, social. That mistake doesn’t just go into somebody’s head, it doesn’t just go, ‘I’m going to stand on him, I’m going to do this and that’.”
The subsequent social media pile on left McKinless with plenty to think about.
“Everyone makes mistakes but in terms of how individuals feel after those incidents, I definitely think there’s more we could do as an organisation potentially,” he said.
“If we’re professionals, these boys are lying up in a jacuzzi or a recovery suite on a Monday and they serve their ban and they get their weekly wage. These (GAA) people are going to work on a Monday and have to face their job, they have to do certain things within their life. That (social media reaction) sort of clouds judgement over everything that goes on within that next period. So it is tough.”
McKinless said he coped okay with the social media backlash last summer.
“I try and stay off social media to a large extent,” he said.
“Obviously the younger generation are all into the online and social media and Instagram and everything else so I could easily see how it could affect them and their day to day life.
“You’re talking mental health then after that, you know, and it does come back to the point that they judge you on one incident.
“They judge you as a person, as a character, on one incident they’ve seen. If they sat down and spoke to you, if they had a five to 10-minute conversation, I’m sure they would have a different judgement on you.
“For me personally, it was tough because with that one I really knew I’d let the boys down moreso. I don’t really like to delve into anybody that’s not sort of relative to my own life.
“It was moreso that I’d let the boys down. But it’s hard to, there’s no point lying, it’s hard to shut out a lot of the negativity at that time, especially mentally because you have obviously your girlfriend and it’s the impact it has on her and it’s your family members as well. So it’s not just one person, it affects quite a number.”
