All-Ireland winning footballer James McCartan has been found guilty of the assault that broke a Westmeath player's jaw in a challenge match last year.
Delivering the verdict at Dublin District Court, Judge William Early said he had no doubt Kenneth Larkin was telling the truth when he said that the Down forward punched him in the jaw during an inter-county challenge game played in Dublin in May, 2003.
The judge deferred sentencing until later this month, and said his attitude then would be influenced by any offer of restitution to the injured player. Lawyers for McCartan declined to say if they would appeal.
The verdict comes after a 17-month saga in which the GAA's Games Administration Committee carried out a long-running investigation into the incident and then dropped it.
Neither side in the subsequent legal case contested the seriousness of the injuries to the Westmeath full-back, who was 19 at the time of the assault and had to have three steel plates inserted in his jaw. The case hinged largely on the competing accounts of McCartan (32) - a member of the Down teams that won All-Ireland titles in 1991 and 1994 - and Mr Larkin, a Garda who was still training at Templemore when the assault took place.
The Westmeath man's version was that after a tussle, the Down player turned and threw a punch. McCartan claimed he didn't know what caused the injury but guessed it was accidental elbow contact as he was trying to break free from Larkin's attentions.
There were few if any neutral spectators at the game, which was played in Newcastle, Co Dublin, and refereed by a Down official.
Concluding that the case finally came down to an issue of "credibility" , Judge Early said he had no doubt that Mr Larkin had told the truth and praised the Westmeath player's "considerable courage" in bringing the case. He rejected McCartan's account and said of his evidence: "Having denied it from the start, he could not admit the lie."
The judge said Gaelic football was a "robust contact sport" in which accidental injuries could be expected. Suggesting that the contest between Larkin and McCartan must have been "intense", he contrasted their ambitions: one a young player "trying to consolidate his place" on a talented Westmeath team, the other a veteran embarking on the last season of what had been a "heroic career".
He had no doubt that Mr Larkin's close marking had caused "a great deal of irritation" to the accused. But he concluded: "To strike someone without legal justification is a crime, whether it takes place in the street, in the family home, or the football pitch or elsewhere."
McCartan was accompanied at court by family and friends, including his wife Linda, his father James snr - also an All-Ireland winner - and Mr Paddy O'Rourke, Down captain in 1991 and manager of the team that played Westmeath in 2003.
There were angry exchanges outside after a member of the entourage pushed a cameraman away from McCartan as he got into a car. Neither side in the case made any comment.
