Connacht GAA President John Murphy has dismissed suggestions he purposely picked out a team over another in the provincial senior football draw.
Speaking to The Irish Examiner, the Sligo native said: “There was nothing untoward.”
The 2021 Connacht senior football championship draw was made live on RTÉ’s Six One News on Monday evening.
There were claims on various social media platforms afterwards that Murphy, who conducted the draw alongside host Marty Morrisey, had selected a cannister only to put it back into the bowl.
The moment occurred as he was to reveal the semi-final opponents of Mayo and Sligo, which turned out to be Leitrim.
However, Murphy clarified to the Irish Examiner newspaper that he chose to redo the draw as Marty Morrissey continued to explain that the next team out would face Mayo or Sligo – and he wanted to coincide his selection with the presenter’s conclusion.
“There was nothing untoward,” said Murphy. “I was running a bit ahead of Marty and I just picked one out and as he was still speaking I put it back down.
“The other side of it, there were eight to 10 people around the place with producers, a prop guy, a camera man, a Croke Park rep. It’s a lot about nothing, really.
“I’m not that big into social media. I just ran ahead of him (Morrissey), really. I noticed he continued talking and I put the drum down and off I went again.”
