Down manager Paddy Tally unlikely to miss any collective training after ban reduced

Down manager Paddy Tally has been handed an 8-week suspension after his side broke the collective training ban. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Cork manager Ronan McCarthy’s prospects of having his three-month suspension reduced appear favourable after Down football boss Paddy Tally had his ban lowered from 12 to eight weeks by the GAA’s Central Hearings Committee on Tuesday night.

Croke Park has confirmed that Tally’s ban took effect from the night of the hearing and will conclude on April 6, meaning the Down manager will miss no league games, and is not likely to miss any collective training, with the GAA ruling out any return before Easter.

Should Ronan McCarthy also have a month shaved off his three-month suspension when appearing before the CHC next week, he too would miss no league fixtures and is likely to miss just a week of collective training.

The Cork manager is challenging the 12-week suspension handed down by Croke Park for overseeing a team-building session on Youghal beach in the middle of last month, at a time when collective inter-county training was strictly forbidden.

McCarthy is being sanctioned under Rule 7.2, which deals with conduct deemed to have discredited the association. The minimum punishment for breaching Rule 7.2 is an eight-week suspension, the very sentence doled out to Down manager Tally by the CHC on Tuesday night.

Tally’s reduced two-month ban commenced on Tuesday, February 9 and will conclude on Tuesday, April 6. With the National League not likely to throw-in until either the last weekend of March (27/28) or the opening weekend of April (3/4), the Down manager stands to miss a maximum of two League games in their Division 2 North group.

Tally has the option of bringing his reduced two-month ban before the Central Appeals Committee, if he is not satisfied with the CHC’s finding.

Tally was slapped with a three-month ban by Croke Park last week in response to a team gathering on the grounds of Abbey CBS in Newry, in early January.

On January 7, following a report from a member of the public, the PSNI was called to a gathering of the Down football panel at Abbey CBS. A PSNI spokesperson subsequently confirmed no lockdown protocols had been broken and therefore no action was taken.

Croke Park, however, found Down to have contravened Rule 6.45, which governs collective training outside of the window determined by the GAA.

Collective training is defined in rule as “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”.

At the time of the Down gathering, collective inter-county training was prohibited until January 15. This date was later extended.

Croke Park also deemed Tally to have broken Rule 7.2 in respect of the meeting at Abbey CBS.

A GAA statement on Wednesday morning said the Central Hearings Committee found the infraction against Tally — “Misconduct Considered to have Discredited the Association” — proven, and an eight-week penalty imposed.

Down have chosen not to contest the sanction of losing home advantage for an Allianz League fixture.