Monaghan to respect McCarville ban

News Round-upMonaghan football selector Gerry McCarville will not appeal the six-month suspension handed down by the Central Disciplinary Committee for assaulting an umpire after last Sunday's national league match against Kerry in Scotstown.

A meeting of the county executive next Monday will decide whether McCarville will be retained in Séamus McEneaney's backroom team when the suspension ends on August 27th. His position as manager of Cavan Gaels may also come under review.

According to Monaghan county board secretary John Scully, McCarville was found guilty of "physical interference with an umpire".

McCarville may have avoided the maximum 96-week suspension, under Rule 138, by coming forward of his own volition.

"We are quite happy with the decision," said Scully. "He went up (to Dublin) and was prepared to face the music. He did something that he shouldn't have done, but at times it was exaggerated to different levels, but there will be no appeal. That's why we got it dealt with, and got it out of the way, in a few days.

"Gerry relayed the story to us. He took responsibility, took the initiative, from the start himself. We went down and put the best case we could for him and are happy with what he got. It could have been worse."

McCarville was joined at Wednesday night's hearing by county board chairman John Connolly. An internal investigation into the incident is also complete, apart from Monday's meeting to decide McCarville's future involvement.

"That has to be decided, but at the minute he is suspended from all GAA activity. We haven't talked about it at management level. The whole committee will have an input when we meet on Monday night."

Scully also stated the incident was less violent than widely reported.

"It wasn't the act it was portrayed to be and we knew that. One newspaper had it as 'stretchered out'. Another had it that he struck. He didn't strike the umpire."

Some good news did come out of the CDC hearing for Monaghan as Dick Clerkin was cleared of a head-butting charge arising from the defeat to Mayo on March 5th. Following a personal appearance and the submission of video evidence the red card was rescinded.

Mayo forward Conor Mortimer was also punished under the GAA disciplinary laws with an eight-week suspension by the Higher Education Committee. Mortimer was found guilty of verbal abuse while playing for DCU in the freshers football quarter-final against NUIG on March 1st.

DCU manager Declan Brennan was suspended for 16 weeks after being found guilty on a misconduct charge in the same game.

Mortimer's suspension dates back only to last Sunday so he will miss the remainder of Mayo's national league campaign. This case is expected to go to the Central Appeals Committee next week.

The CDC confirmed Mark Vaughan's four-week suspension after The Kilmacud Crokes forward was sent off in the All-Ireland club semi-final defeat to Salthill-Knocknacarra on February 19th.

Vaughan cannot play in the opening round of this year's Dublin championship, unlike last year when, in a long-drawn-out appeal process, his ban was overturned by the DRA.

The CDC announced a further eight football and five hurling suspensions, ranging from two to 12 weeks, all stemming from the previous two rounds of the national league.

In football, Niall Fitzgerald (Tipperary), Martin Cahill (Cavan), David Barden (Longford), Colin Regan (Leitrim), Patsy Bradley (Derry) and Francie Bellew (Armagh) received four weeks, while Denis Bastic (Dublin) and Karl O'Keefe (Waterford) were handed two weeks.

In hurling, John Dillon (London), Derek McConn (Mayo) and Stephen Clynch (Meath) received 12 weeks, while Eugene Hill (Cavan) and Martin Coyle (Longford) got four weeks.

Finally, the women's football All Stars kick-started their St Patrick's Day celebrations early with a special outdoor function held by the Irish ambassador in Singapore. The touring party was delayed at Amsterdam, but dashed from Singapore airport to the ambassador's function on arrival at 6.30pm local time.

MEATH (SF v Kildare): B Murphy; C King, K Reilly, N McLoughlin; J Donohue, A Moyles, S Kenny; B Lynch, N Crawford; P Curran, J Sheridan, P Byrne; G Robinson, B Farrell, D Regan.

TYRONE (SF v Monaghan): P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Gormley, M McGee; D Harte, C Gourley, P Jordan; C Holmes, S Cavanagh; K Hughes, B McGuigan, G Cavlan; M Penrose, S O' Neill, O Mulligan.