Gavin needs to get Connolly on track – or get rid of him

DUBLIN’S decision to accept the 12-week suspension handed out to Diarmuid Connolly for putting his hand on a match official last week is a good one for the game. However, it’s an even better decision for the Dublin football team itself.

In this instance Connolly did very little wrong. He barely touched linesman Ciarán Branagan during last weekend’s Championship victory over Carlow. And a great many people felt sorry for Connolly – indeed, it was felt he had a half-decent chance his suspension being removed, or at least minimised, if he fought his case in front of the GAA’s Central Hearings Committee.

Thankfully, Connolly and the Dublin’ management appear to have reached an agreement that he should take his punishment – severe as it is – and wait out the summer until August.

By then Dublin’s Championship campaign may be over, and a full year in Connolly’s football life will have been lost. Or, perhaps, Dublin will be playing in an AllIreland semi-final, and still in the hunt for an historic three Sam Maguire Cups in a row.

It remains to be seen how the loss of such a brilliant forward will impact on Jim Gavin’s team. Definitely, it will hurt them. However, for how long more could Gavin (below) defend Connolly’s hot-headed actions? The manager has watched his player receive so many reprimands as his poor disciplinary record has lengthened. Finally, it seems, Dublin have taken a stand. The team management have made no comment, but is would appear that the frustration and distraction that attached itself to Connolly’s football career could not be tolerated forever. Even though he is picked upon and meanly targeted by every team Dublin meet, there is no acceptable excuse for Connolly repeatedly letting himself and his team down by reacting to every little nuisance and major impediment he encounters. Connolly has to understand that the team always comes first. To date, through his actions, he has failed to grasp that fact. This week, Gavin finally did so and, in the process, the acceptance of the 12-week ban might actually benefit Diarmuid Connolly as he sees out the final few summers of his high-profile football career.