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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

RTE pundit Shane Dowling shares social media abuse over Clare vs Limerick suspension saga

RTE pundit Shane Dowling has written about the abuse he's been subjected to over the last two weeks.

The former Treaty forward was targeted online for appearing on The Sunday Game the night of his county's thrilling Munster final victory over Clare.

It was an instant classic of a match and as if often the case, there were a few instances of players losing their cool and overstepping the mark.

Two Clare players in Peter Duggan and Rory Hayes were highlighted in the studio by Brendan Cummins who was alongside Dowling.

They were subsequently handed retroactive one-game suspensions for their All-Ireland quarter-final against Wexford this Saturday. But as is also often the case, their suspensions were thrown out on appeal.

On this occasion it was down to a technicality that similarly saw Galway's Cianan Fahy have his two-match ban rescinded.

Some Banner supporters had felt the CCCC would never have dished out the punishment to their players in the first place were it not for The Sunday Game highlighting their infractions.

They also pointed out instances where Limerick players were overly aggressive that weren't discussed in the package.

This prompted the vitriol directed at Dowling.

Responding to what he called 'the elephant in the room' in his RTE column today, he shared his experience over the past few days.

He wrote: "It's the elephant in the room now so I may as well speak about it and get it out of the way. The reality here is, no matter what I say or write about it, there is a certain cohort of people who will not believe me, and also just continue to abuse me and that’s fine, if that’s what people want to do.

"I have never experienced the levels of online abuse that I have been subjected to over the last ten days, but obviously that is where society is gone.

"I have been involved in sendings off, as have my team-mates, and when you go about an appeal they are very stressful times for players and families. Trust me, I've seen it first hand.

"If I am nothing else since I started work on The Sunday Game, I am most certainly pro players. Not being long out of the game I know full well what players do, and what they want.

"Whenever a chance has presented itself, in recent times or times ahead, if it makes sense I will back players more so than anybody else. Seeing the lads get cited, followed by proposed bans and suspensions, gave me absolutely zero satisfaction, and I mean that.

"It is not very nice, and players go through a hard time. A lot of people disagree with what was broadcasted, and a lot agree, while some make up their own agendas to suit themselves. It's like everything really."

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