Cavanagh hoping for rapid comeback from injury

TYRONE midfielder Sean Cavanagh is set for a rapid comeback from injury after doctors discovered his ankle problem is much less serious than first believed.

A second x-ray has shown the bone is not chipped, but a bad sprain will still keep him out of the Ulster semi-final against Antrim on June 15.

But Cavanagh’s recovery period has been drastically revised downwards.

Having been resigned to spending six weeks in plaster following last Sunday’s club game mishap, the Moy man expects to be back in training in three weeks and ready for the Ulster final, should Tyrone qualify.

“I’m just delighted,” said Cavanagh, who had the plaster removed from his leg yesterday. “It’s been a real roller-coaster ride over the past couple of days, down one minute and up the next.

“It was devastating to be told I would be out for so long, but now it’s a different outlook altogether, and now I have something to aim for, if we manage to get to the Ulster final.”

Meanwhile, the Tyrone County Board is to support Gavin Devlin’s appeal against a 12-week ban handed down by Croke Park disciplinary chiefs.

Devlin was given the stunning news just hours before last Saturday’s Ulster Championship replay against Derry, and now his debut season lies in ruins.

An incident in the National League final against Laois promoted the GAC to use video evidence in support of a charge of dangerous play against the Ardboe man.

The subsequent penalty handed down had sparked outrage in the Red Hand county. Confirming the Tyrone board is backing Devlin’s appeal, county PRO Brendan Harkin said: “The support for the appeal is an attempt to have the reality of the incident examined rather than a perception of what happened. It can not in any way be construed as condoning rough play.

“The appeal is based on the Rules of the Association and will be conducted in accordance with those rules. An official of the National Committee dealing with the case has already made reference to ‘trial by the media’.

“So, I feel it would be entirely inappropriate to conduct an appeal through the media. Consequently, I will be making no further comment until the appeal is heard.”

County boss Mickey Harte said he was disgusted by the punishment meted out to his centre-back.

“I’m disgusted, because it doesn’t seem to be a level playing field. And particularly us people in the North, we don’t feel we are getting true justice.

“In other provinces they seem to get away with this. We’re not trying to defend what happened, we’re trying to point out that the system doesn’t seem to be dealing fairly with us. We would like a bit of fair play.

“I think if the referee deals with it, then you have to take that. And today the referee dealt with it, and I’m not saying that anything different should be done. But I would be asking for a consistent approach.

“There were a few other players involved in similar circumstances, and they got off because the referee had dealt with the incident,” said Harte.

“In this case, the referee had dealt with the incident as well, so regardless of what the incident merited, if there is to be any consistency in the rulings, then he should have got off.”