THE GALWAY village where a local GAA team was filmed celebrating a recent victory with fans in a packed-out local pub has recorded at least 50 cases of coronavirus in the past week.
Footage shared on social media showed players from Moycullen GAA club celebrating their county cup victory over Mountbellew-Moylough last Sunday in a busy local bar.
In the video, they can be seen singing and drinking close to supporters, with little regard for the social distancing rules designed to stop the spread of Covid-19.
At the time, the entire county of Galway was under Level 2 restrictions.
Under the regulations, pubs are allowed to continue serving alcohol, provided they adhere to social distancing and other Covid-19 safety regulations.
However, there was little sign of any in place during the footage found online.
In the wake of the party, several players at the club tested positive for Covid-19.
Moycullen has now moved to cancel all upcoming activity while their players have been withdrawn from Galway’s senior and youth sides due to the rising number of positive cases of Covid in the area.
Moycullen celebrating winning the county title with a bit of harmless craic. Nothing bad will happen here. from r/ireland
Speaking to RTE Drivetime Councillor and Moycullen resident Alastair McKinstry revealed the full extent of the outbreak.
“I’ve heard numbers of up to 50 or so were infected,” he said.
“It almost certainly has gone beyond the GAA players, there’s fear within the school in particular cases.”
McKinstry has expressed concern over a lack of contact tracing and the potential for the virus to spread within local care homes.
A club source told the Irish Mirror the outbreak that followed the celebrations has served up a “harsh reality" for many who thought the pandemic would pass them by.
A club source said: “Our lads went drinking on the Sunday and Monday. They did go to the pubs and they did have some drinks, but we had no control over that.
"The county final brought everybody out, maybe the alcohol then numbed the senses. It has been a harsh reality for people.”
The club has been keen to stress it did not sanction the celebration event.
