OPINION: GAA President contradicted himself on Late Late over Kyle Hayes and Rory Gallagher

GAA President Jarlath Burns was the standout guest on Friday night's RTE Late Late Show where host Patrick Kielty didn't shy away from asking him the tough questions.

While he was asked about highs from his first year at the helm of the GAA, Kielty's questioning quickly turned to recent controversies, including Burns' intervention in the potential appointment of Rory Gallagher as a coach with Naas GAA.

Jarlath Burns wrote to Naas GAA in recent weeks and advised them against hiring former Fermanagh footballer and Derry senior football manager Rory Gallagher as a coach at the club. The unprecedented move was prompted by domestic abuse allegations made by Gallagher's estranged wife - for which charges were never brought by the PSNI.

He told the Kildare club their reputation was at stake if they pressed ahead with the appointment. He spoke up for the GAA's Game Changer initiative which seeks "to tackle domestic, sexual and gender-based violence."

ABOVE: Rory Gallagher during his time as Derry senior football manager 

He said: “The appointment of Rory Gallagher, given the allegations that have been made public, risks undermining the principles of the Game Changer Initiative and the positive work being done across the GAA to address issues of respect and inclusion.

“While Gallagher has publicly stated that no charges were brought against him, the controversy surrounding his personal life has created significant division and concern within the wider GAA community.” On foot of the contact, Naas GAA dropped their interest in Gallagher with the Fermanagh man hitting back at the GAA President and threatening legal action if he did not retract the email.

Speaking on the Late Late Show, Burns said he would not be retracting the email which he said he sent "in good faith." He added: "I made it clear when I became president that I wouldn't be a hands-off president.

"I did take the opportunity to contact Naas and let them know the reservations that I had. Given the values and principles that we have in the GAA, which are very important to us.

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"One of them is underlined by the 'Game Changer' initiative, which I launched on November 25, 2024, which really shone a light on the area of gender-based, domestic and sexual violence.

"If Naas GAA had decided, 'thank you for that advice but we're not going to take it', that was me finished with them (that correspondence). As you know, clubs organise themselves. We are the most democratic institution in Ireland," he claimed.

"But I wouldn't be true to myself, as the person whose number one job is to protect the values of the GAA, if I didn't at least point out to somebody somewhere that I had reservations," Burns said.

On the show, Burns was then asked if he could see a difference between intervening in the way he did with Gallagher but not in the case of Kyle Hayes, the All-Star Limerick hurler who was last year convicted of violent disorder over an assault which left an innocent young man with a broken eye socket before returning to the Limerick panel and playing Championship hurling in Croke Park.

It was here the GAA President's rationale came undone. In one breath he said he felt compelled to contact Naas because, as his email to them stated, Gallagher's appointment would be “at odds with the values of respect, inclusion, and equality that the GAA has worked so hard to promote", a point he reiterated on the Late Late. In that email to Naas, he said a decision to appoint Gallagher "may send a confusing message to young players about the values and standards that should guide our behaviour both on and off the pitch.” 

In that context, take the example of Kyle Hayes, who displayed none of these values off the pitch on the night he kicked Cillian McCarthy on the ground outside a Limerick nightclub. It was said in court he abused gardaí, telling them to 'f**k off' when they arrived on the scene. He showed no remorse and fought the charges all the way to the end - to a criminal conviction and two-year suspended jail sentence. Jarlath Burns handed Kyle Hayes an All-Star award in November, an award that supposedly signifies the very best of the GAA.

Burns says there is a big difference between incidents involving players compared to coaches because a coach exerts an influence on often impressionable players. He noted that Kyle Hayes was surrounded by good people like John Kiely in Limerick GAA. John Kiely, the senior Limerick hurling manager, provided a character reference for Hayes in court during his trial. Burns doesn't want people at odds with the 'values of the GAA' influencing young players. This 'influence' is the distinction he seemingly consoles himself with in regard to his action and inaction on both fronts. But aren't players influencers as well? Perhaps even more so, you could argue. 

I have watched enough hurling games, especially involving the prodigious Limerick hurling team who are idolised by young boys and girls, to see their huge influence. Children, the most impressionable people in our society, swarm the pitch and gravitate to their favourite stars like Kyle Hayes to get a selfie or an autograph. He, his teammates and other intercounty hurlers and footballers are role models. End of. These children aspire to be just like them; emulating their skills, even buying the same boots and hurls. That influence doesn't end at a white line on a GAA pitch. 

PICTURED: Kyle Hayes signing autographs for young fans after a hurling game in 2022

You would be forgiven for thinking that a President seemingly as principled as Jarlath Burns would want to ensure players lauded in this way represent the values he professes to promote and uphold within the GAA - on and off the pitch - as he says himself!