Donegal boss Declan Bonner says that the GAA’s disciplinary process amazes him, as Sunday’s grudge match with Armagh approaches.
Bonner has to plan for the match without Neil McGee and Odhrán McFadden-Ferry, both suspended as a result of the fracas that broke out during their League tie with Armagh last month, when Donegal scored a one-point win in Letterkenny to preserve their Division One status.
He was speaking before news emerged on Tuesday night that Orchard trio Aidan Nugent, Ciarán Mackin and Stefan Campbell saw their suspensions sensationally lifted, adding to the boost that manager Kieran McGeeney had already received last week when ace forward Rian O’Neill had his ban thrown out, apparently on a technicality.
Read more: Armagh handed major boost ahead of Donegal clash
While Bonner was reluctant to be drawn specifically on the O’Neill case after Donegal had decided against contesting their two suspensions, he said: “I am in the game a long time and it still does not make much sense to me, to be quite honest. It is what it is, it’s not something I get too involved in to be quite honest.
“There are committees in place, appeals committees and everything else in place and sometimes you look at some of the suspensions that are handed out and they just amaze you to be honest.
“But, no, you just move on from it, there is no point wasting too much time on it.”
After five red cards were flashed in February’s Armagh-Tyrone clash and suspensions were meted out as a result of the Donegal-Armagh game, the clampdown on ‘contributing to a melee’ appears to be carrying on into the Championship following Conor McKenna’s dismissal for Tyrone against Fermanagh on Saturday evening.
Tyrone joint boss Feargal Logan has suggested that, rather than contributing to a melee, players in some instances, such as McKenna’s, are “looking to the safety of one of his teammates”.
Bonner said: “They are looking for that first player coming in, that is what they are looking for and any player in there contributing... how do you say they are not contributing if they are in there? To me, it is something that has to be looked at.”
Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, last month’s meeting and the subsequent fallout has certainly added spice to Sunday’s Ulster quarter-final in Ballybofey, though Bonner insisted that there would have been no shortage of that in any event.
“It doesn’t really matter if Letterkenny happened, it is still Championship, it is Armagh, it is going to be a tasty affair, there is no doubt about that there.
“It is a huge match for both teams, two teams who are in the top flight and, yeah, it is probably the Championship match of the first round, there is no doubt about that.
“I suppose Galway/Mayo will have similar feelings.”
Donegal suffered a rare defeat in Ballybofey during this year’s League as Monaghan sacked MacCumhaill Park but Bonner stressed the importance of maintaining its status as a fortress for the team, having lost just one Championship match there since 2010.
He added: “We know the task ahead will be huge. Hopefully MacCumhaill Park will be sold out or as close as possible with a big Donegal support and we know Armagh will travel in numbers.
“We have got to make sure we make MacCumhaill Park the fortress it is. It’s important we use that, it’s our home pitch. It’s great to have the crowd back in after the last couple of years and we need to make that count.”
As well as the suspended McGee and McFadden-Ferry, Bonner will be without Oisín Gallen through injury though, other than that, he is hopeful of a clean bill of health.
He reported: “The only one I would say for definite is Oisín Gallen. He has picked up a knock so he is going to be out for a number of weeks.
“He’s got a number of issues that just need clearing up. Again it is muscular and it needs time. It is frustrating for Oisín, it has been a frustrating couple of seasons for him with injuries. It is just a recurrence again and it needs to get sorted now.”
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