The seven Tyrone and Dublin players banned for their part in last month's ugly scenes at Healy Park in Omagh have had their lengthy suspensions lifted on appeal.
The GAA’s Central Appeals Committee met last night to consider the appeals of three Tyrone players - Owen Mulligan, Michael McGee and Kevin Hughes - plus Dublin’s Alan Brogan Kevin Bonner, Ciaran Whelan and Bryan Cullen .
All had been hit with eight week bans with the exception of Cullen, who received four weeks, but these punishments were overturned in their entirety.
"The GAA have confirmed that the appeals on behalf of Dublin and Tyrone players heard by the Central Appeals Committee last night have been upheld," a statement released from Croke Park read. "The suspensions initially imposed will no longer apply."
Although the GAA statement doesn’t clarify on what basis the appeals were successful, it is understood the bans were revoked on a technicality concerning the use of video evidence.
On this occasion the CDC delegated three of its members to study video evidence, summarise events, and then report back with suggested charges. However, GAA rules stipulate that if involved in compiling evidence the delegates cannot then be part in the actual decision-making process and are therefore ruled out of any further proceedings.
As such, when the CDC asked the three delegates back to clarify a matter they broke the GAA’s own laws and therefore rendered the whole process illegal.
"I'm happy that the players are available again," Tyrone manager Mickey Harte told RTE Radio. "It mightn't be totally accurate to say everyone has got off totally free because. . . players have been in a state of limbo, not knowing whether they could or couldn't play."
Harte continued: "It’s not a question of getting off as maybe players have endured something they didn’t deserve to endure, so maybe there’s justice in the long run that the players are available again.
"I believe there was much more made of the incident than what was deserved to be made of it. It wasn’t pretty and we don’t want to be playing football like that but. . .the facts are that no player came out with any kind of injury so that has to tell a story."
Last August GAA President Seán Kelly proposed rule changes to allow the CDC to use video evidence to review refereeing decisions which inadequately punish foul play of any sort on the pitch.
At the time this followed on from the ruling of the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) in relation to the suspension of Tyrone's Ryan McMenamin.
Then the DRA ruled that incidents already dealt with by the referee could not be revisited by the CDC, although it didn't rule out the use of video evidence for the consideration of incidents not spotted by the match official.
The decision means all seven players are available to play this weekend. Tyrone will look for their first league points this campaign away to Offaly on Sunday, while Dublin face Cork under floodlights at Parc Ui Rinn on Saturday night.