Keady: No logic to GAA imposing 48-week ban on Shore
Wexford defender Shore remains in limbo after a failed appeal against the giant ban for playing ineligibly in the UK.
The game took place last October so he’s out for the majority of 2015, robbing Wexford of an ever present from last summer’s breakthrough Championship campaign. The suspension saga has uncanny echoes of the infamous ‘Keady affair’ that embroiled the GAA in 1989.
Keady was reported for playing illegally in the US and as a result missed Galway’s bid for three All-Ireland titles in a row. The former Hurler of the Year is still sore about the episode and admitted the Shore case has left him frustrated again.
“The GAA haven’t learned a thing, that’s the truth,” slammed Keady. “You can’t be handing 48-week bans to lads that are just trying to go out and play sport. It’s as if the guy has committed a terrible crime. It’s just not logical.
“I read recently of a player getting a couple of matches of a suspension for sectarian abuse. Then you have this poor lad in Wexford and they’re throwing the book at him, putting him out of the game for a year.
“I know exactly what he’s going through and I feel awful sorry for him, for Liam Dunne and for Wexford. When you come up against these GAA committees and they stick their heels in, you’re right up against it.”
Shore was banned for 48 weeks for playing in Warwickshire without proper clearance. He is adamant that he understood all paperwork to be in order.
An appeal to UK authorities fell on deaf ears though the player has insisted he will exhaust the appeals process.
Sources close to Shore admitted the saga is testing his resilience and Keady revealed concerns that the talented half-back may simply jack in hurling.
“It all depends now on what way he takes it,” continued Keady. “He might just say, ‘to hell with this’ and hop on a plane to Australia. That’s the end of it then. That’s what they’re risking when they dish out these huge bans.”
Keady, currently a Galway U21 hurling selector, was reigning Hurler of the Year when he was banned in 1989.
The centre-back was deemed to have played illegally in New York. But the practice was widespread at the time and rarely punished, leading Keady and Galway to claim he was unfairly picked out. Wexford begin their Allianz League campaign on Sunday at home to Antrim. Aside from Shore, they will also be without Conor McDonald (ankle) and Matthew O’Hanlon (suspended) while Keith Rossiter has retired.
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