Referee Daniel Sweeney was left with serious injuries to his jaw, cheekbone and nose following the alleged attack

A referee was hospitalised yesterday after an alleged assault following an adult soccer match.

Daniel Sweeney was treated for facial injuries following the alleged attack by three Mullingar Town players in a car park after their away match with Horseleap yesterday in Co Offaly.

The individuals at the centre of the incident, which left Mr Sweeney with serious injuries to his jaw, cheekbone and nose, have now been identified, it was confirmed this morning.

Speaking on RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland, Secretary of Combined Counties Football League Chris Hand said the individuals will be immediately suspended.

"The individuals involved in this incident have been identified," Mr Hand said.

"What will happen now is they will be immediately suspended. The referee report will be brought to a disciplinary hearing."

Mr Hand said they will follow the FAI's protocol on how to handle the situation, which he described as "thankfully rare".

"We will follow up with the strongest possible action. What surprised everyone yesterday was the level of violence," he said.

"There is no room for this in sport. It's been confirmed he has a broken jaw and damage to his eye sockets.

"The important thing is - I know the injuries are quite shocking - but it's the fact that the assault took place."

Mr Hand continued; "We depend on volunteers. We've 40 games every weekend in our league and it all depends on volunteers.

"The match officials go out and do a great job week in and week out. Without that cooperation we wouldn't be able to have football matches.

"It is really shocking to see. What happened yesterday transcends sport really, it's a bigger problem."

Speaking to the Irish Independent last night, the chairman of the Combined Counties Football League, Seán Montgomery, said those involved would receive lifetime bans and the club would be issued a significant fine.

He said: "There will be no stone unturned in terms of how we deal with this. It is completely and utterly unacceptable."

Paul Malone, secretary of the referees' Midlands Branch, said that "referees are an easy target".

He called for criminal sanctions against the offenders.

Mr Malone said the league must be strong on punishment and also called for lifetime bans to be issued to anyone involved.

"It's an absolute disgrace," he said. "It needs to be clamped down on and it's getting worse.

"Anyone who did this damage to Daniel, I hope they get jail," he added.

A garda spokesman said an investigation is under way and that officers were called to the incident at around 1pm yesterday.

"Gardaí from Tullamore were called to the scene of a public order incident at a football club in Horseleap, Co Offaly.

"No arrests have been made to date and enquiries are ongoing."

A Mullingar Town spokesman declined to comment due to the ongoing Garda investigation.

Irish Independent