Irish League player dubs critics 'morons' as he defends taking part in Falls Road Easter commemoration

The Ballymena keeper, who signed for the club last year after 11 years with north Belfast outfit Crusaders, said that he had been taking part in the parade alongside members of his GAA team.

Images circulated online in the past day with the caption "Ballymena United keeper Sean O'Neill on the Falls today", both on the Facebook page Official Protestant Coalition (2.3k followers), and the Twitter account RUC/UDR (@R4FcMuK7k8IhUKz, 4.7k).

In response, Mr O'Neill (@ogers88, 3.7k) wrote on Twitter: "For anyone looking an explanation for this. This is my Gaelic club who walk in the parade every year…

"I walk with my gaelic club every year. Anyone who thinks this is bad is a moron.

"For the guy that took this, I see you haven't sent it to me... I wouldn't expect anything less".

In response to further critical comments from Twitter users, he said: "I'll stand with my gaelic club every day of the week. I'm proud of my club and always will be. Any issues you know where I am."

Mr O'Neill, as well as having spent over a decade at the top flight of Irish League football, is well-known as a GAA enthusiast.

He previously played for the Antrim county team, and has long been associated with Michael Davitt's GAC (the shirt he is wearing in the picture is a St Davitt's one, for example).

The club – known as Micheal MacDaibheid Cumann Lúthchleas in Irish – is based on the lower Falls Road, and the name is likely a reference to Home Rule advocate and Parnell ally Michael Davitt, who died in 1906.

However, it is not clear exactly which parade Mr O'Neill was taking part in, since there were a number of them on the Falls Road on Sunday.

For instance, the Parades Commission has seven listed in the area of Belfast's Falls Road on Sunday (the largest of which was the National Graves Association, with 1,500 participants and 5,000 supporters, according to the 11/1 form) with two others in west Belfast the day prior.

In an unrelated Irish League controversy last year, Larne player John Herron left his club following a furore over a photograph showing him wearing a republican top at the West Belfast Festival.

That item in question was a Celtic-style top with 'tiocfaidh ar la' emblazoned on it in the shape of an Armalite rifle.