Conway suspended by Derry following incident with Kielt

DERRY midfielder James Conway has been suspended from the county senior football panel while an investigation is held into the incident in a club game last weekend which left inter-county attacker James Kielt with a broken jaw.

Kielt was playing for his club Kilrea against Conway’s Ballinderry last Sunday in a Derry Division 1 Football League game in Slaughtneil, when an off-the-ball clash occurred.

As the referee did not see the incident Ballinderry were ordered by the Derry County Board to identify which of their players was involved and as a result Conway is no longer involved with the county squad.

The incident has cast a shadow over Derry’s preparations for Sunday week’s Ulster semi-final against Tyrone in Casement Park. Kielt is definitely absent for that game and the Queen’s University student is also doubtful for Derry’s following game, either the Ulster final on July 19th or an All-Ireland qualifier eight days earlier.

Meanwhile in better news for the Derry squad, Fergal Doherty and Brian Mullan have both had their eight-week suspensions halved after appeals to disciplinary chiefs.

The Derry pair were punished after incidents during the controversial Ulster SFC victory over Monaghan on May 24th.

Both players will still miss the Tyrone clash but will now be available for the Ulster final or the start of the qualifiers.

Doherty was sent off for two yellow cards in the Celtic Park game but one of the cautions was later upgraded to a straight red following the use of video evidence, while Mullan was banned for kneeing Monaghan’s Conor McManus in the groin area.

Monaghan attacker Thomas Freeman failed in his appeal against an eight-week suspension imposed for striking a Derry opponent in that game, but is reported to be considering making a further appeal to the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA).

Freeman’s suspension would rule him out of three rounds of the All-Ireland qualifiers.