FORMER Galway hurler Davy Glennon was shown a yellow card by Gardaí and brought before Loughrea District Court on an unusual charge of ‘before hours’ serving at his pub Tigh Darby on Main Street, Loughrea.
Defending solr Gearóid Geraghty pleaded that in one case the charge related to serving drink just six minutes before the legal 10.30 am morning opening time for pubs when four people were ‘found-on’ drinking alcohol, and in the second case he faced, the Gardaí had raided his pub 25 minutes before the official morning opening time.
Mr Geraghty pleaded that his client ran a coffee business at the same premises and this opened at 7am and staff were on hand from that time to run the trade.
Before the Court was former Galway hurler David ‘Davy’ Glennon, Gurtymadden, Loughrea who now plays inter-county for Westmeath and for his club, Mullagh. He was charged with breaching the licencing laws on January 14 at 10.24am and on February 15 at 10.05 am.
Judge James Faughnan was told by the prosecuting garda sergeant that when Gardaí called in on the first occasion ,four people were drinking, and on the second occasion, half of those in the bar had drinks in front of them. The Judge was told that Glennon had been given a warning by Gardaí about early opening but he hadn’t obeyed.
The Judge asked if he was to believe the found-ons had served themselves.
“They pulled their own drinks, did they?” he told Glennon. “You have a licence and you must have the character to hold that licence” the Judge added.
The defence pleaded that Glennon had run the bar for six years and there had never been any trouble. He had a good relationship with the local Gardaí. Regarding the warning, he admitted that Gardaí coming in for coffee may have told him to “keep it tight,” but it was not like a formal warning.
He explained that it was hard to get staff and with people coming in early to clean the bar and others out front serving coffee it was sometimes hard to keep track.
Mr Geraghty suggested that “someone got wind” of this situation and the confusion was taken advantage of. Judge Faughnan decided if the defendant contributed €800 to the Court Poor Box he would not impose a conviction. The defendant left the Court and returned with the €800 soon after. Striking out the charges the Judge commented: “There’s money in coffee”.
