DAVY BAN FEAR
Croke Park to level charges today - with 8-week ban on cards
WEXFORD manager Davy Fitzgerald is expected to find out his fate today, amid renewed fears that he could be hit with a lengthy ban.
It is expected that the CCCC will contact the Wexford County Board today, outlining the charge that Fitzgerald will face as a result of his pitch incursion during last Sunday’s Allianz HL semi-final defeat to Tipperary.
Wexford officials were initially confident that Fitzgerald would face just a minimum one-match ban for a breach of match regulations as a result of his 17th minute meltdown, sparked by referee Diarmuid Kirwan’s failure to award his team a free in the build-up to Tipperary’s second goal at Nowlan Park.
However, they now fear that a more serious charge is in the pipeline, which could see their manager hit with an eight-week ban.
Those fears have been sparked by the CCCC’s delay in taking action, despite mulling over referee Diarmuid Kirwan’s report during their meeting on Tuesday morning.
It is understood that Croke Park has sought to clarify some details of that report regarding the incident.
Television pictures indicate that Fitzgerald nudged Tipperary’s Niall O’Meara in the midriff and Wexford officials are fearful the CCCC may look at that incident to hit their manager with the more serious charge.
If Fitzgerald is hit with the
minimum one-match ban, he will not take his place on the line for Wexford’s opening Leinster Championship game against whichever one of the minnows emerges from the preliminary group. However, he also faces the prospect of an eight-week ban from all GAA activity if the CCCC charges him with the category 11a offence of having ‘any type of physical interference’ with an opposing player. Were the latter to come to pass, Fitzgerald would not be able to take his place on the line for the crunch Leinster semi-final meeting with Kilkenny on June 10, with ironically an eight–week ban elapsing at midnight, just hours after the final whistle of that game.