Castletown and Camross unlikely to appeal bans

CASTLETOWN and Camross are unlikely to appeal the heavy suspensions handed down by the Laois County Board on Monday.

The county SHC final, which Castletown eventually won, ended in acrimony after a fracas broke out and resulted in 15-year old Camross player Dean Delaney being stretchered off the pitch.

There is still some debate as to whether the youngster was unconscious when he left the field after the game had been held up for 15 minutes.

However, the gravity of what happened was in no doubt, as players, selectors and a water carrier became embroiled in the unsavoury incident. The disciplinary meeting of the county board duly delivered a 96-week suspension to Castletown goalkeeper Ger Cuddy, a 72-week ban to his brother Brendan, who was acting as a water carrier at the game, as well as a 48-week ban for Camross selector Tommy Delaney, Dean’s father.

Ger Cuddy’s ban has already begun, with the net-minder having sat out his club’s Leinster club championship victory over Glenealy of Wicklow at the weekend.

However, all three are entitled to appeal those decisions to the Leinster Council or the Disputes Resolution Authority but the indication from both clubs and Laois officials is that a line will now be drawn under the entire affair.

“We have a meeting tomorrow night where it will probably be discussed but I don’t think we’ll see any appeal from us,” said the Camross chairman, Kieran Delaney, yesterday.

“Certain things have to be done after what happened in the replay and we’re just looking to put all this behind us now and move on.

“We have a minor final on Saturday and hopefully we can bounce back with a win there.”

Dean Delaney, who spent two days in hospital after the incident, was also due to appear before the disciplinary committee on Monday night but was excused on medical grounds. He is now due to have his hearing next Monday evening.

Delaney was not red-carded prior to being stretchered off and his unavailability for the hearing two days ago now means that he will eligible to play for Camross in the county minor final this weekend.