Dermot McArdle says Monaghan are resigned to being without Tommy Freeman for Saturday week's All-Ireland football qualifier against Armagh. The Monaghan county board have confirmed that they are appealing the star forward's eight-week ban to the Disputes Resolution Authority, but McArdle and his team-mates clearly aren't holding out much hope. "As far as we are concerned, he isn't there. We are planning without him," the corner back said. "He is a massive loss. It is a huge test of us as a team to go out and win a match without Tommy. "He scores at least five, six points every game from frees or from play and he is always going to take their best defender out of the game as well. "You can look at it two ways, as a huge loss or a huge opportunity to prove we can play without him. "He was sent off inside the first two minutes of the league game against Armagh (under the experimental rules), so maybe that might help." Tweet

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