Revealed: Cork boss McCarthy and Down’s Tally hit with 12-week bans for breach of training guidelines

Both counties to lose home venue for one Allianz Division 2 National League game

DEFIANT: Cork manager Ronan McCarthy insisted that Cork followed all protocols and non-training guidelines in their get together in Youghal last month.

CORK football manager Ronan McCarthy and his Down counterpart Paddy Tally are facing 12-week bans for overseeing collective sessions in breach of the GAA’s training guidelines.

Sanctions against both counties will be confirmed today and are also set to include the loss of home venue for at least one of their Allianz League games, if and when those fixtures take place.

The three-month bans for the managers will commence when collective training is permitted. It is for breach of Rule 7.2 which deals with discrediting the association. The minimum ban is eight weeks.

A Croke Park committee found that Cork’s ‘team-building’ session on Youghal beach last month was in breach of Rule 6.45 which precludes collective training outside the specified window. Down will also be sanctioned under the same rule for their gathering at Abbey CBS in Newry.

It is understood that there will be no financial penalty on either county or any other suspensions of chairpersons. What will be interesting is the reaction in the respective counties, and whether they will launch appeals against the suspensions. While there is a level of disquiet in Cork at least, there is also an acceptance that it may be prudent to accept the punishment and move on.

Video was posted on social media of the Cork players involved in team-building work on the beach. Though it is broadly held that the optics of such a gathering were not good in the current climate, the sanctions are on the basis of alleged training outside the permitted window and are not related to Covid guidelines or travel restrictions.

Cork manager McCarthy has already insisted in an Irish Examiner interview that all activities on the beach were under the strict supervision of the medical team, and all the appropriate guidelines and protocols were adhered to and enforced by a doctor. Furthermore, it is claimed that a number of players were precluded from attending on medical grounds as a precaution.

McCarthy told the Examiner on January 7: “We are hugely conscious of our responsibilities to our players, backroom team and the wider public and are fully committed – as we have always been – to following Covid protocols, in particular during this difficult period of escalating numbers nationally.” In the Down case at Newry CBS, the PSNI were called by a member of the public but they found no breach of public health regulations. Down chairman Jack Devaney claimed it was a one-off meeting to distribute pre-season training schedules and programmes.

NEWRY NO-NO: A Croke Park sub-committee has found that Paddy Tally's Down were in breach of guidelines when they gathered at Abbey CBS in Newry.

The GAA rule in question, which has been the subject of liberal interpretation by some counties in the past, states that “collective training is where one or more player(s) is/are required to be at a specific place at a specific time on a specific date. Intercounty panels may return to collective training and/or games for the following year on a timetable determined annually by the Central Council.”