Onus on match officials to protect Connolly, says Moran

August 25, 2017

Dublin's Diarmuid Connolly walks away from linesman Ciaran Branagan after he exchanged words during the second half

Collie Moran fully expects the returning Diarmuid Connolly to come in for special treatment from the Tyrone defence on Sunday and is calling on David Coldrick and his officials to ensure "justice is seen to be done".

Moran believes fair treatment from the match officials is the least his former Dublin team-mate deserves after he decided not to appeal against the three-month ban he received from the Central Hearings Commitee for interfering with linesman Ciaran Branagan during Dublin's Leinster SFC opener against Carlow on June 4.

"This will present the GAA with a huge opportunity to do right by Diarmuid and by its own ­rulebook," Moran wrote in his column for the Irish Sun.

"When he was handed his ban back in June there were certainly question marks about the whole process and, in particular, the referee's report. Jim Gavin said himself that if they took it to the DRA then they'd have gotten off.

"But they took the punishment on the chin and most people would agree that it didn't fit the crime.

"The least Connolly should expect in return is that David Coldrick and his officials on Sunday do right by him. Coldrick's two linesmen and four umpires need to apply the letter of the law - just as it was applied against Diarmuid.

"That means that if Tyrone are going to antagonise, get in his ear, rattle him and do things that are prohibited under rules, that the umpires and linesmen draw the referee's attention to it.

"Time and again we see umpires not putting up their hand to alert the referee when incidents have taken place. There's an onus on them this Sunday in particular to make sure justice is seen to be done," added Moran, who believes Dublin should start Connolly against the Red Hands.


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