Dromid seek legal advice after CCCC bans

Dromid Pearses are seeking legal advice after both they and Derrytresk were hit with heavy punishments arising from incidents in their All-Ireland club JFC semi-final last Sunday week.

The South Kerry club are understood to have been fined €2,000 and had three players provisionally suspended, while Tyrone’s Derrytresk are believed to have been slapped with a €5,000 fine and had a massive eight players handed proposed suspensions.

Four of the Derrytresk players signalled out started the game in O’Moore Park while the other quartet were substitutes.

The clubs received notification from the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) following their investigations into the ugly scenes which marred the game in Portlaoise.

Derrytresk officials last night gathered their players together to inform them of the CCCC’s findings.

Both clubs plan to seek a hearing.

A Pearses spokesperson last night said: “We have received correspondence from Croke Park and we will now be seeking legal advice from Pádraig O’Connell in Killarney. We cannot comment any further at this stage.”

The clubs are entitled to have their cases brought to the Central Hearings Committee.

Should the punishments be upheld, they could also seek to contest the judgments via the Central Appeals Committee and possibly the Disputes Resolution Authority.

Officials were called to meet members of the CCCC in Portlaoise on Monday night to identify their players and club members in video footage.

Derrytresk’s proposed bans will have a huge impact on the club’s preparations for their AIB All-Ireland junior final against Galway’s Clonbur in Croke Park on Sunday week.

Speaking yesterday before the CCCC correspondence was received, club captain Cathal O’Neill admitted it had cast a shadow over their countdown to the final.

“It has been the talk of the place, it has been the thing on everyone’s lips. We just try to focus on ourselves because we have a final to prepare for.

“We’ve been training and everyone is just trying to get their heads focused on the prize. It can be a bit distracting, but it’s up to players to try to distance themselves from it.”

O’Neill admitted it had strengthened the bond in the panel. “I suppose it has brought lads together,” said the defender, who is likely to be called into Mickey Harte’s Tyrone panel later this month.

“We might be missing a few on the day, but it’s all about the team. It has always been about the team. That’s probably the reason we have played so well all year.”

Meath player/selector Graham Geraghty doesn’t believe there was much aggression in the brawl involving the clubs last Sunday week and feels it was an isolated incident, but says players have to be protected better.

“I’m not going to say it’s all part of the GAA but the physicality is and sometimes, when you’re playing All-Ireland semi-finals for your club it gets over-heated.

“It was hyped up a bit more as well, I don’t think there was any real malice in it. These are isolated incidents.’’