Tyrone club turn focus to Sunday's final

WITH SOME sense of conclusion, Derrytresk have shifted their focus to Sunday’s All-Ireland club junior football final and are set to accept with some reluctance the latest penalties imposed by the GAA’s Central Hearings Committee (CHC), at least for the time being.

In a further twist to the now infamous brawl that marred Derrytresk’s semi-final win over Dromid Pearses last month, the CHC reduced the level of individual suspensions on the Tyrone club, as proposed by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), and also halved the €5,000 fine, but then imposed some severe punishments of their own, with Derrytresk now banned from all Ulster and All-Ireland competitions for the next five years, once Sunday’s All-Ireland final is over.

The CHC also imposed some unique restrictions on Derrytresk for Sunday’s All-Ireland final at Croke Park, where they face Galway side Clonbur: only their team manager, club secretary, team doctor and physio will be allowed to enter the pitch before the game, at half-time or in the immediate aftermath of the game, and only their team manager will be permitted to patrol the sideline during the game. Their water carriers will also be provided by the CCCC.

Derrytresk chairman Barney Campbell indicated last night there was a reluctant acceptance to get on with things, and that at least they now knew which players were available for Sunday: of the eight individual suspensions originally proposed by the CCCC, Joe McKee – possibly their most influential forward – had his eight-week ban overturned, (reportedly because the ban should never have been instigated), while similar bans proposed for Kevin Campbell, Michael Robinson, Seán Slater and Brian Gavin were cut to four weeks.

The three remaining players didn’t take their cases to the CHC and thus remain banned for eight weeks – which means Derrytresk will still be down seven players for Sunday’s game in Croke Park.

It also emerged yesterday that an anonymous donor had paid the €2,500.

Earlier this week, it already emerged that a female Derrytresk supporter who allegedly hit Dromid Pearses player and Kerry star Declan O’Sullivan with a handbag has been banned from attending GAA games for a year.

The three Dromid players who also received bans are expected to have appeals heard by the CHC in the near future: the club was also handed a €2,000 fine.

Derrytresk could have pursued their case with the GAA’s Central Appeals Committee (CAC), as is their right: the club has three days to notify the GAA of such of a move, although there was no such movement in that direction by close of business yesterday.

A spokesman for the GAA explained that the CHC were always free to upgrade or alter the suspensions as they saw fit, as they are a completely separate disciplinary step to the CCCC, with no interaction with the CCCC.

The almost unprecedented five-year ban will not apply to any Tyrone activity, as that would be up to the county disciplinary committee, although this could yet be challenged, but the CHC effectively took the matter as far as they could in imposing the ban for all activity outside the county, including any provincial and national representation.

This probably won’t have any immediate impact given Derrytresk are now promoted to the intermediate competition, and would defy most expectations by reaching the provincial stages of that competition next year.