By John Fogarty
Diarmuid Connolly will return to Croke Park this evening to make his case to play in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final replay against Mayo.
Connolly and Dublin yesterday evening made an unsuccessful bid in front of the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) to have his one-match ban rescinded.
Later, county officials will argue to the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) that the suspension should be thrown out.
The St Vincent’s man was shown a straight red card by referee Joe McQuillan after he consulted with linesman Conor Lane about a tussle between Connolly and Mayo defender Lee Keegan, who was yellow carded as a result.
Dublin County Board chairman Sean Shanley told the Irish Examiner that they may look to pursue their challenge against Connolly’s punishment to the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) if the CAC decide to uphold the CHC’s decision. “It is a possibility, yes, if that happens,” he said.
A convening of the DRA would then likely have to take place tomorrow evening in time for Connolly to be able to line out the following day.
Dublin are set to name Connolly in their starting 15 in the hope that he is freed to help take on Mayo at 5pm on Saturday.
However, doubts remain about the fitness of Rory O’Carroll after he sustained a serious cut to his head in an incident involving Cillian O’Connor in the third minute last Sunday.