Monaghan manager, Séamus McEnaney will learn of his fate after Friday night’s meeting of the GAA management committee. He and the county apologised last week for breaching the ban on intercounty training by conducting a session with the panel in his home club of Corduff.
This led to a 12-week suspension from his own county board seven days ago but that penalty is likely to be quashed by Croke Park, as happened to Dublin when they imposed a similar punishment on manager Dessie Farrell.
By that precedent, the 12-week suspension will be reimposed by the management committee, as will a stripping of home advantage in one of the upcoming national league matches.
The matter was investigated by a sub-committee of management, pressed into action for the third time this year after similar episodes in Cork and Down earlier this year and Dublin a fortnight ago.
Monaghan’s case was slightly alleviated by having taken place prior to Dublin’s get-together at the Innisfails club in the north of the county. That happened within hours of the GAA issuing a stiff warning about the potential consequences for the return to activity of any breaching of the ‘no training rule’ before the permitted date of April 19th.
Monaghan’s session was, however, a bigger gathering with the whole panel involved as opposed to the nine players who took part in Dublin’s. Both events came to light through pictures released through the Irish Independent.
The GAA decided that for counties to issue their own suspensions was ultra vires and imposed their own.
The main difference has been to start the clock running on the punishments a little later than the original disciplinary action. This would mean in McEnaney’s case that the suspension would run from Saturday, April 16th up until July 9th.
