Declan O’Mahony loses All-Ireland club final appeal

All-Ireland club football finalists Ballyboden St Enda’s have lost their appeal against the automatic one-match ban for midfielder Declan O’Mahony, which means he misses the showdown against Castlebar Mitchells on St Patrick’s Day.

O'Mahony was shown a straight red card on 53 minutes for a high tack on Clonmel forward Jason Lonergan in their semi-final, which the Dublin club won after extra-time. There is, however, still the possibility of a further appeal, according to club captain Darragh Nelson.

“I think there might be another appeal in the process later in the week,” says Nelson. I think it’s very tough to be honest. If there’s one player that deserves to be playing in an All-Ireland club final it’s him. For me personally, he’s the beating heart of that team.

“Just throughout the years, me coming in as a young lad, starting off, the leadership that he’s had in that team has been phenomenal so it must be very hard on him. I can’t imagine how tough it must be on him to be honest. So hopefully, we’ll see later on during the week if it is overturned.

“He’s obviously very disappointed, when he heard initially, but we had a league game there against Jude’s and he played a half, seemed okay, seemed fine, played well. He’s probably just trying to not let it get to him, just trying to continue on and if it does get overturned, then it hasn’t got to him too much.”

It’s a first final appearance for the Dublin champions; opponents Castlebar Mitchells - who caused a mild surprise by defeating Crossmaglen Rangers in their semi-final - have made two club finals before but lost them both, the last time to Dublin club St Vincent’s in the 2014 decider.