Diarmuid Connolly’s ban must stick for GAA’s sake

September dawns and the GAA’s disciplinary system finds itself occupied in a month in which it is usually dormant.

For Diarmuid Connolly though, finding himself in a Croke Park boardroom at this time of year is not too unfamiliar. Four years ago, he was in the same situation as he is now: contesting a straight red card issued on the basis of a linesman’s account.

At the time, it was Rory Hickey who consulted with referee Maurice Deegan after Connolly had pushed Marty Boyle. The Donegal substitute made a five-course meal of the infraction but it wasn’t on that basis Connolly was reprieved. As Deegan failed to take his name, Dublin successfully argued to the Central Hearings Committee a technical error had occurred and therefore the proposed ban be rescinded.