McGuinness: "Incident a storm in a teacup"

Gary Dempsey, the player who was suspended by St. Patricks Athletic amid the allegations of match-fixing, has today released a statement denying he had any influence on a game in which he placed €20 on the opposition.

Originally the match-fixing was thought to have occured in the defeat's to Cobh Ramblers and Galway United. However, in his statement, Dempsey says that "the bet was infact unsuccessful as the other team involved were beaten." This would rule out the Cobh game as Dempsey was involved. This was the only occasion that Dempsey missed out on a Pats victory in recent times.

The 27-year-old is still adamant that "this incident has been blown out of proportion and I am of course prepared to meet with club officials to sort this matter out."

An opinion that PFAI secretary, Stephen McGuinness agrees with. "While placing a bet in Gary’s situation was inadvisable it was not contrary to any FAI regulation and in those circumstances, he should not be subject to any disciplinary sanction. This whole incident is a storm in a teacup” said Mc Guinness.

St.Pats and the FAI are expected to continue their investigations tomorrow.