Rory Gallagher has threatened legal action against GAA president Jarlath Burns over his recent email to Naas GAA.
Gallagher had looked set to join the Leinster club’s coaching ticket for 2025 until the club performed a U-turn and opted out of appointing the former Derry and Donegal manager to a role.
It has since emerged that Burns made contact with Naas GAA ahead of a club executive meeting, after which the decision was taken not to hire Gallagher.
The Fermanagh native has not managed at inter-county level since departing from his role as Derry manager in 2023 amid allegations of domestic abuse made by his estranged wife, Nicola.
He was coaching with Monaghan club side Corduff in 2024 and had looked set to make the move to Leinster club football in joining Naas, though the appointment fell through shortly after Burns’ intervention.
In light of that development, Gallagher has now threatened legal action against Burns if he does not retract his correspondence with Naas, claiming he had “overstepped the mark."
A statement read: "I categorically deny the allegations levelled against me. I have engaged with every procedure available to me. The PPS have issued two separate decisions finding that I have no case to answer. I have the full custody of my three children, and most importantly I engaged with the GAA’s own procedures which set aside my disbarment.
"Despite having engaged with due process and procedure, it seems clear that the President has now opted to take matters into his own hands.
"I have never asked for sympathy or support. I do however ask that this action is formally withdrawn and the contents of the correspondence is retracted. The President should lead by example and accept when he has overstepped the mark.
"Absent such a retraction, I will have no other alternative but to take legal action to cure the irreparable damage done to me and my family in my ability to continue to work as a manger (sic) in the years ahead."
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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