GAELIC GAMES: Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has questioned the "professionalism" of the Central Disciplinary Committee (CDC) in the wake of the four-week suspension handed down to Ryan McMenamin yesterday.
The same sentence was also given to Armagh duo Ciarán McKeever (dangerous play) and Paul McGrane (striking) following incidents in the Ulster football final replay between the two counties last month.
However, McMenamin suffers the most as he misses tomorrow's fourth round qualifier against Monaghan and, should Tyrone progress, the All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin on July 13th. The Armagh players will miss the All-Ireland quarter-final on August 20th.
All three intend to appeal the sentences, with McMenamin to take his case to tonight's Central Appeals Committee (CAC) in the hope of getting it quashed ahead of the weekend.
"I wasn't particularly impressed by the hearing as there wasn't a warm reception for our point of view," said Harte.
"They didn't show much professionalism either when you see members of the committee walking out hot on our heels as soon as the hearing had ended. It seemed like they had made up their mind beforehand.
"We thought we had suffered enough for the incorrect sending off of Peter Canavan and Stephen O'Neill and now this. If any team deserved the rub of the green it is us so we will definitely be appealing."
The Tyrone corner back was found guilty of dangerous play for clearly dropping his knee on John McEntee in the closing stages of the replay on July 23rd.
A lack of consistency was the major complaint after the CDC broke with the norm by overruling several on-field decisions by referee Michael Collins. Both McMenamin and McKeever were yellow carded following the incidents they subsequently received suspensions for.
"To move the goalposts in the middle of the season is simply not fair. We need stricter criteria put in place as we thought we had a benchmark in place before but it was changed," added Harte.
The two Ulster counties feel the disciplinary arm of Croke Park and sections of the southern media have overly targeted them. Armagh manager Joe Kernan pointed to a critical article in a Sunday newspaper last week.
"That article had us hung, drawn and quartered beforehand," said Kernan. "It showed bias and was unreasonable. I have always co-operated with the media since I became Armagh manager and constructive criticism can be helpful, but this standard was totally unfair."
Both Armagh and Tyrone camps pointed to incidents this year involving other counties that saw players either let off with a CDC caution (in the case of Kerry defender Tomás Ó Sé) regarding future conduct or not called up at all.
"What must be questioned," said Armagh county board secretary Pat Nugent "is the selective nature of these cases. The consistency levels simply do not seem to be there. There have been cases this year - and some incidents when there have been no hearings at all - with similar offences but those players are still playing after only receiving a warning.
"We have to look closely at the road we are going down," continued Nugent. "Is the referee's decision to be final or is there to be eight or 10 men looking at the video to make the decision. Do we then need video facilities at every ground around the country? A certain level of consistency is required. We need an indication whether this is to be done at county level or club level as well."
In the case of McGrane the defence team came armed with frame-by-frame video stills that they claim indicated he played the ball.
"Ciarán McKeever was handled by the referee. Also, there were at least 10 players involved and all he was guilty of doing was dragging a few players out of the melee," added Kernan.
However, the CDC rejected both assertions and it seems highly unlikely any of these bans will be overturned on appeal.
The CDC also gave a four-week suspension to Waterford footballer Shane Hearne and Dermot Kinsella of Wexford who were both sent off while playing for their counties in the Tommy Murphy Cup on July 31st.
