Sweeney, Bellew have red cards rescinded

Central Disciplinary Committee: Donegal and Armagh failed to escape from the Central Disciplinary Committee (CDC) on Wednesday night without the knuckles of managers Brian McEniff and Joe Kernan being rapped for their actions in the Ulster football quarter-final replay.

Neither was overly perturbed, as Adrian Sweeney and Francie Bellew had the red cards handed out by referee Maurice Deegan last Sunday rescinded thanks to video evidence. Both are available for championship action this Sunday after the referee's report of striking was thrown out.

However, McEniff will be in the stand this weekend in Aughrim, where Donegal face Wicklow in the qualifiers, and Kernan will be in the stand at Casement Park, where Armagh play Derry in the Ulster semi-final, after both received one-match sideline bans for pitch encroachment.

The two All-Ireland winning managers were disappointed with their sentences, but accepted the decision.

"It won't make much difference as I'll have a nice seat in the stand," said Kernan. "I was a little disappointed, as the report said I was continuously encroaching on the field. I wasn't, and anyone who was there will see that I only went on once when three Armagh players were down. Either way, John (McCloskey) and Paul (Grimley) will look after things on the line on Sunday."

"In fairness to the committee, we were thankful that they heard our case with such short notice and allowed the video evidence to be used," he continued.

"Naturally, we are delighted to have a player of Francie Bellew's stature back in."

The report from Deegan is believed to state Bellew was sent off for striking with the hand, but video evidence showed that when Brendan Devenney was struck, Bellew was on the ground himself.

McEniff was also pleased to be able to select Sweeney, but dismayed that his assistant, John Cunningham, must step into his role against Wicklow.

"The referee clearly did his best to 'play on', but this is not easy in a tough Ulster match. Using advantage clearly didn't work.

"Also, many years ago I sponsored a motion to Congress to bring a runner into Gaelic football. I accept the decision, but it is very difficult in Gaelic football to get messages on to the pitch from the line."

Three other team officials from Ulster counties were given one-match suspensions from the pitch enclosure: Gerry McCarville (Monaghan), Bernie Murray (Monaghan) and Paddy O'Rourke (Down).

The CDC also handed eight players four-week bans. They were: Ronan Slattery (Clare), Kevin Cassidy (Donegal), Paddy McKeever (Armagh), Dan Gordon (Down), Ryan McCloskey (Fermanagh), Andy Hubbard (Waterford), Shane Cooke (Laois) and James Lonergan (Kildare).

In hurling, John Kehoe of Wicklow received a 12-week suspension following his team's meeting with Carlow in the Christy Ring Cup on June 4th. Niall Byrne (Louth) and Michael Poinard (Leitrim) received four-week suspensions arising from incidents in the Nicky Rackard Cup game between Leitrim and Louth on June 18th.

The CDC, it seems, were not moved to use video evidence to implicate anyone not mentioned in referees' reports.