Wexford boss Davy Fitzgerald is set to receive no further punishment despite being sent off during his side’s draw with Galway yesterday.
Referee Johnny Murphy banished Fitzgerald to the stand in the 44th minute after he stormed onto the pitch and remonstrated with sideline official Mick Murtagh over a challenge on Damien Reck, which went unpunished.
Fitzgerald insisted after the game that he did not verbally abuse Murtagh and it is believed that there is no mention of abusive language or physical interference on the Wexford manager’s part in Murphy’s report.
The Clare native will receive a warning, however, and should he step out of line in similar fashion or worse before the Championship is out, he’ll find himself in hot water.
It comes after Dublin selector Greg Kennedy was issued with a four-week ban for interfering with play during the recent Kilkenny-Dublin game, the key difference being that Kennedy, unlike Fitzgerald, wasn’t sent to the stand for the rest of that particular match.
Referees have been directed to deal with such issues on the day rather than have the CCCC taking them on subsequently and there appears to be satisfaction that Murphy did just that yesterday.
Fitzgerald was hit with a 12-week ban, later reduced to four weeks, earlier this year after an incident with referee Cathal McAllister while two years ago he served an eight-week suspension after storming onto the field during Wexford’s League semi-final against Tipperary and clashing with opposition player Jason Forde.
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