Dublin have further complicated the investigation into last Sunday's contentious Allianz National Football League match against Tyrone by announcing their intention to appeal the red card shown to forward Alan Brogan. As the GAA's Central Disciplinary Committee (CDC) meet this evening to start examining the matter, the chances of a swift and agreeable conclusion look increasingly slim.
The CDC investigation essentially hinges on two things - the report of match referee Paddy Russell and video footage provided by TG4 and UTV. While both elements will be scrutinised tonight the problem is that they can't necessarily be used to complement each other in pressing any further charges.
In the meantime Dublin returned to a wet and windy training field last night, intent on building on their opening-round victory. Manager Paul Caffrey later announced his starting line-up for this Sunday's meeting with Monaghan at Parnell Park.
Brogan wasn't named among the starters because of the one-match ban automatically carried for a straight red card. Declan Lally has been called into the forward line in his place. Stephen Cluxton also returns in goal for Paul Copeland in the only other change from the team that started Sunday's three-point win over the All-Ireland champions.
Earlier in the day word emerged of Dublin's intention to appeal Brogan's possible eight-week suspension after confirmation that he had received a straight red, and not two yellows as some newspapers reported.
While the Dublin County Board haven't held formal talks on their exact course of action, they are known to be dissatisfied with the nature of Brogan's sending-off early in the second half for an apparent strike on Tyrone's Ciarán Gourley.
Dublin are maintaining it was a harmless palm-off, although the real problem started with Brogan's altercation with a member of Tyrone's backroom team while leaving the field - which triggered the third mass brawl of the afternoon.
That incident encapsulates the difficulties faced by the CDC. If Dublin can produce video evidence to show Brogan wasn't guilty of a strike then the chances are he will be cleared. Last July, Tyrone's Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill were exonerated of any wrong-doing by the CDC despite both being sent off in the Ulster football final replay against Armagh.
However, that same investigation saw the CDC call in Tyrone's Ryan McMenamin and Armagh's Ciarán McKeever to answer charges of foul play, despite both players' indiscretions being dealt with at the time by referee Michael Collins. While both players were then suspended, McMenamin's appeal to the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) rendered them redundant - with the conclusion that video evidence cannot be used to substitute a red-card offence for one that the referee had thought had merited a yellow card only.
The CDC have 14 yellow cards to consider from the Dublin-Tyrone game, as well as the straight red card shown to Tyrone's Colin Holmes.
CDC chairman Con Hogan has been understandably reticent about saying too much ahead of this evening's meeting, but he has hinted at the possible limitations on the course of action. "We'll have the referee's report and take a look at the video," he said. "After that it depends on what we can and can't do."
The CDC had also sought clarification on the use of video evidence, but as last summer's disciplinary problems proved, a mechanism to specify the use of video evidence in overruling a referee hasn't been properly implemented - and won't be until Congress next April.
The nine members of the CDC are Con Hogan, chairman (Tipperary), Pat O'Neill (Meath), John Heaphy (Monaghan), Gerry Mahon (Leitrim), Bob Honohan (Cork), Joe O'Shaughnessy (Wexford), Garrett O'Reilly (Cavan), Bernie O'Connor (Galway) and Billy Lenihan (Limerick).
Should Dublin or Tyrone decide to appeal any current or pending suspensions, they would go to the CAC.
DUBLIN (SF v Monaghan): S Cluxton; N O'Shea, B Cahill, D Henry; P Casey, P Andrews, C Goggins; C Whelan, D Bastick; D Murray, B Cullen, D Lally; D O'Callaghan, K Bonner, T Quinn.
