Lowry waits before deciding on appeal

The Westmeath football manager Brendan Lowry appears certain to appeal the 24 week suspension handed down by the Leinster Council on Tuesday night.

The lengthy penalty stemmed from incidents surrounding Lowry's pitch incursion during the O'Byrne Cup final with Longford on February 6th, but the indications yesterday were that an appeal would be forthcoming.

"I have yet to get the official notification of this, and until then we'll have to just wait and see what happens next," he said yesterday. "Then I'll have to sit down and discuss with the county board as to what actions we can take. For the moment though, I'm still in the dark as to what the exact implications will be."

There is a minimum one month suspension for any specific unauthorised pitch encroachment, but yesterday Michael Delaney, secretary of the Leinster Council, outlined just why the suspension was so much more severe. Dublin referee Gay McCabe had included in his report reference to Lowry's pitch incursion and questioning of the referee's authority.

"There was also video evidence of physical contact with a Longford player and video evidence of his verbal questioning of the referee," added Delaney. "That, combined with the fact that there had already been a warning for a pitch encroachment in the last 12 months." That incident involved Lowry's pitch incursion in a National League game with Wicklow last year.

The ban is all-reaching and applies across the range of GAA activities, and asked whether Lowry would still be able to carry out his duties as manager, Delaney said he "couldn't see how".

Nevertheless, the extent of the suspension certainly appeared to shock those involved with the Westmeath team. "We were all surprised at the severity," said County Board secretary Paddy Collins.

"This was six times the minimum for such an offence, but whether there is going to be an appeal or not is a matter for the individual. For the moment we will wait and see his own course of action, although we'll be having a meeting next Monday night to discuss the ramifications and the exact impact"

Football captain Martin Flanagan echoed those sentiments. "It definitely seems that bit severe," he said, "especially since I didn't think he did a whole lot. The morale in the team right now is not the highest anyway, especially with some of our recent displays. He has got a good relationship with all the players and this may even cement the team even more."

According to another county spokesman, while a suspension of this sort rules Lowry out of all GAA activities, it doesn't automatically sever his role as manager. "Technically he can still train and pick the team," he said.

Lowry was appointed the county manager in Autumn of 1997 and is deemed to be responsible for helping Westmeath become one of the emerging teams in Leinster. Either way, it hasn't been a great week for Westmeath football with Lowry's suspension, along with John Cooney's four-week ban for his sending-off in the same game, both coming the day after Paddy Fox announced that he was stepping down as a selector.