Slaughtneil’s Conor McAllister was viciously assaulted while on a night out in Belfast
DERRY’S leading sports clubs has been dealt a major blow after a rising Slaughtneil GAA star sustained serious facial injuries in an assault.
The unprovoked and brutal attack on Conor McAllister comes just days before a crucial game this weekend.
The reigning Derry and Ulster senior club football champions are scheduled to meet Tyrone kingpins Omagh St Enda’s tomorrow, Saturday, October 27, in a provincial championship quarter-final.
But their mounting injury list has now been exacerbated after an assault on squad member Conor.
The player was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Belfast on Tuesday night.
It’s understood the injuries McAllister suffered include four broken teeth.
The attack triggered shock waves within the Slaughtneil club and the Derry GAA community.
John Joe Kearney, assistant manager of the football team, revealed last night that the club has been left “stunned” by what occurred.
“This is a despicable happening – we have a young sportsman, just coming into his prime, the victim of a full-blooded assault,” Kearney told the Belfast Telegraph.
“He had played outstandingly for our hurlers on Sunday and as far as we were aware he was in the squad for Saturday’s football semi-final.
“What happened to Conor puts everything into perspective.
“This was naturally a big shock to his family and friends and all his playing colleagues here in Slaughtneil.
“Conor loves his sport, he plays whatever code he is involved in fairly and he certainly did not deserve this.”
The attack is the latest to happen to people from Derry on nights out in city centres.
Last weekend Danny Payne was viciously assaulted in Derry city centre when he tried to act as a ‘Good Samaritan’ and intervene in an altercation in Newmarket Street.
The married man, a former volunteer with Foyle Search and Rescue, has now been left fighting for his life in hospital following injuries he sustained to his head.
And only a few weeks earlier Jordan McConomy lost his life after he was brutally attacked while on a night out in Derry city centre.
Tags: