€25,000 damages award for Mayo GAA officer defamed in Croke Park

A man has been ordered to pay damages after he was overheard saying that a member of the Mayo GAA senior football backroom team had “fiddled” money from the Mayo County Board.

Noel Howley, Dal Riada, Portmarnock, Dublin, claimed that Michael Feehan, 41 Aldridge Avenue, Stanmore, London, England, made defamatory remarks about him which inferred that he was a thief who had stolen money from a sporting organisation. The case was heard before Judge Sarah Berkeley at Dublin Circuit Court last Friday. Mr Feehan was not present.

Mr Howley’s wife Martina Howley told the court she was in Croke Park on September 18th, 2016, watching the All-Ireland football final between Mayo and Dublin with her daughters. Her husband was also present at the match. At half-time, her daughters went to the bathroom and Mr Howley came over to speak to his wife. He shook hands with a man sitting behind her.

After Mr Howley returned to his seat, Mrs Howley overheard a conversation between the two men sat behind her, one of whom she later identified as Michael Feehan. The first man asked Mr Feehan, “who was that?” referring to Mr Howley.

Mrs Howley said she heard Mr Feehan, who was not known to her at the time, make the defamatory remark.

She said she was ‘totally shocked and traumatised’ by this as Mr Feehan said this loudly in an area of Croke Park that was mostly occupied by Mayo supporters, many of whom she knew.

She told the court that what Mr Feehan said was an "entirely and utterly false statement" and she had never before heard anything indicating that her husband was a "thief and a criminal". Mr Howley has been involved with various Mayo GAA management teams as a player liaison officer and welfare officer since 2010.

At full-time of the match, she confronted Mr Feehan, informed him she was Noel Howley’s wife and asked him why he said what she heard him say and who had told him that about her husband.

She said he disregarded her questions and went to leave, replying “well, that’s what I’m told” a number of times. During this conversation, Mrs Howley’s daughter Roisin Howley took a photograph of Mr Feehan.

Ms Howley told the court she took the photo to see if her father could identify the man later on.

On the evening of the same date, Mrs Howley was at Citywest Hotel with her family where a post-match dinner was being held. She went to the bathroom and upon her return, saw Mr Feehan speaking to her husband.

She approached them and Mr Howley said that Mr Feehan was telling him that a woman had verbally attacked him at Croke Park and accused him of saying things about Mr Howley that he did not say. When Mr Feehan saw her, he walked away and they did not see him again.

Mrs Howley told her husband that she had been the woman who Mr Feehan was referring to. She said her husband became visibly upset by what Mr Feehan had said. Mr Howley, who is chairman of the Mayo-Dublin Association, had known Mr Feehan as he was a member of the London branch of this association.

“Mayo football is so important to him and he was made out to be a criminal and an untrustworthy person,” Mrs Howley told the court.

Mr Howley told the court that he had never stolen money from the Mayo County Board and that Mr Feehan’s words were not true. Mr Howley said he has had extensive involvement in Mayo GAA but it was always in a voluntary capacity.

He directed his solicitor John Geary to write to Mr Feehan on December 2nd, 2016, asking for an apology, but he received no reply. He has seen Mr Feehan a number of times since this incident but Mr Feehan has ignored him.

Mr Howley said the incident had a bad effect on him.

“When you are involved in various charity organisations you have a profile, but because of this I found myself staying away from events. The mental torture was unbelievable.

“I found it incredible he would make such an allegation against me.”

Mr Howley’s barrister Stephen Brittain said the court should take into account that Mr Feehan was asked to apologise but did not, and he also failed to engage with the legal proceedings at any stage.

Judge Berkeley said the words spoken by Mr Feehan inferred that Mr Howley was a dishonest person and they were made in front of a number of spectators in Croke Park.

She ordered Mr Feehan to pay damages of €25,000 to Mr Howley.