Down manager Paddy Tally has had his suspension reduced from 12 weeks to eight.
It comes following a sitting of the Central Hearings Committee last night after Tally chose to contest the proposed three-month ban that was handed out after a gathering of the Down footballers on the grounds of Abbey CBS last month, at a time when collective training was forbidden by the GAA, reports the Irish Mirror.
Although Down protested their innocence, the GAA’s Management Committee slapped Tally with a charge of “misconduct considered to have discredited the association” under rule 7.2 of the GAA’s Official Guide.
However, while the CHC found that the charge was proven, it didn’t run with the proposed 12-week ban and instead imposed an eight-week suspension, the minimum for such an offence.
The ban will only kick in once inter-county training is permitted to restart, most likely in early March, and it means that Tally will have no involvement in the majority, if not all, of Down’s Division Two Allianz Football League campaign.
The Tyrone native still has the option of taking his case to the Central Hearings Committee.
Cork senior football boss Ronan McCarthy has been hit with a similar charge and his hearing is expected to take place next week.
