A GAA coach, who abused two young boys in the 1970s, had his sentence cut on appeal yesterday.

75-year old Ronan McCormack from Cloonloo, Co Sligo groomed and abused schoolboys as young as 10.

In 2014, he received a jail sentence of five-years and 10-months for these assaults and, due to publicity surrounding that case, two more victims came forward.

Mr McCormack was subsequently found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of 14 counts of indecently assaulting the two other boys - who had come forward - at various locations between June 1972 and March 1975 – they were aged between 7 and 13 at the time of the offences.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced him to consecutive terms totalling seven years.

The Irish Independent reports that Ronan McCormack successfully appealed his sentence yesterday.

The Court of Appeal said his aggregate sentence for both sets of offences was excessive, disproportionate and not compatible with the totality principle. The three-judge court accordingly reduced his seven-year sentence to four.

The Rape Crisis Network of Ireland has slammed the court’s decision to cut his jail sentence, and told the Irish Independent that appeals like these are often very distressing for survivors of sexual abuse.