Dessie Farrell has had a fresh 12-week ban imposed while Dublin have been stripped of home advantage for an Allianz League game.
Dubs boss Farrell was banned for 12 weeks by his own county board last week after at least nine of his players were pictured breaking Covid-19 regulations by partaking in a training session.
The GAA’s Management Committee carried out its own investigation, however, and ruled that, by the letter of the law, Dublin were not entitled to dish out a suspension in this instance and imposed a fresh 12-week suspension, effective from today.
It means that Farrell will have to sit out the Allianz League campaign and his suspension will elapse on July 1, which will be before Dublin’s Leinster Championship campaign gets underway, presuming they are seeded to the quarter-final stage.
In addition to Farrell’s suspension, Dublin have been stripped of home advantage for one of their three regulation games in the League, which gets underway next month and for which fixtures have not yet been finalised. Dublin are not expected to contest the punishment.
There was fresh strife for the GAA today when it emerged that Monaghan footballers had been filmed during a training session at the beginning of last week, with the evidence having been passed to the Department of Justice and subsequently to the Gardaí and Croke Park.
Like Dublin, the Monaghan county board has moved swiftly and banned manager Seamus McEnaney for 12 weeks though that too will presumably be overruled by GAA Management.
It is likely that Monaghan will also be stripped of home advantage for a League game, in keeping with punishments meted out to Down, Cork and now Dublin for similar offences.
McEnaney's suspension could have more grave consequences for Monaghan than Farrell's for Dublin given that, by the time it is ultimately imposed and the likely 12 weeks are served, the Ulster Championship should be well underway and the team may have been eliminated once the ban elapses.
