The referee who was allegedly struck by Derry star Eoin Bradley after a weekend club championship game is considering his future in the game.

Dungiven official Declan O'Connor was assaulted after Bradley's club Glenullin lost their Derry SFC quarter-final to Ballinascreen on Saturday. The Derry CCC will meet tomorrow night to discuss the referee's report and if Bradley is found to have stuck the official, he faces a minimum 48-weeks suspension.

O'Connor said: "I'm considering pulling the pin as far as refereeing is concerned. I have been doing it now for 22 years and have done everything including the senior county final in 2001 and 2008. I am just thinking about my family now. I enjoyed myself up until the last couple of years - until things started to get out of control which has a lot to do with clubs and their discipline.

"There's no way of getting around that, the referee always gets the blame for everything."

Derry chairman John Keenan has promised a thorough investigation into the incident and has vowed to clamp down on such incidents.

"It's a matter for the Competitions Control Committee but we will have to deal with it. I said last week that we would have to have respect for referees but this is not acceptable," he said in the Irish Examiner.

"We will not accept it. There will be a zero tolerance approach for physically abusing referees, we have to take a strong stand against it." Tweet

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