GAA players feeling like Twits

Brendan O'Brien

MJ TIERNEY didn’t play a single minute of Laois’ eight-point defeat to Dublin on Sunday but the forward made bigger headlines than any of his underperforming colleagues with a one-word tweet on Sunday evening.

The Parnells corner-forward was dropped by manager Justin Tierneyfor the Leinster quarter-final and uploaded a one-word message that simply stated “#disillusioned” later that evening.

When asked the reasons for his omission by Mayo’s Conor Mortimer, Tierney responded: “your guess is as good as mine” and he added another post yesterday morning that said: “Hmmmm, Twitter. #dangerousgame” after his original reaction was picked up by The Sunday Game and others.

Tierney isn’t the first Irish sportsman to have his fingers burned by the social media network which has prompted a highly-charged debate over the conflicting demands for freedom of speech and privacy in the UK since the scandal that has engulfed Ryan Giggs.

Republic of Ireland international Darron Gibson quit the site within two hours of opening his account after the Manchester United midfielder was subjected to considerable abuse from members of the general public.

Among the messages aimed at the Derry-born player was one that said: “@dgibbo28 hasn’t tweeted yet. Seems somewhat fitting after the countless anonymous performances we’ve seen from the ‘footballer’.” Gibson subsequently claimed his decision to opt out had nothing to do with the negative comments but Irish rugby internationals who received similarly bruising remarks were less shy about responding during the last Six Nations.

“If u got something bad to say, go somewhere else or unfollow,” said Heaslip after Ireland stuttered to a win over Scotland in Murrayfield, “...really don’t have time for it. results matter, always said that. Laters”.

Cian Healy, whose username is ProperChurch, was similarly blunt: “Yes, I am happy, we won ... so take your negativity elsewhere please ... or don’t bother following, and thank you to the majority.”

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/95tjmqWUTBo/post.aspx

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