‘Dissenting verdict’ over GAA star playing in replay

A member of the GAA’s Disputes Resolution Authority panel that cleared Dublin star Diarmuid Connolly to play in the All-Ireland semi-final replay has broken ranks and issued his own rebuttal of the decision.

Co Meath-based solicitor Brian Rennick has written a rare dissenting verdict on the Connolly ruling, only the second time in the panel’s 10-year history that a decision was not unanimously arrived at.

Former Supreme Court Judge Hugh O’Flaherty and solicitor David Nohilly both found that Dublin forward Connolly, in contesting his red card for striking Mayo’s Lee Keegan in the drawn All-Ireland semi-final last month, had not been afforded fair procedures by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee.