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John Small fails to overturn r...

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John Small fails to overturn red card

98FM
98FM

12:37 12 Jul 2018


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Dublin defender John Small will miss the Boys in Blue’s first match in the new Super 8 Series.

The Ballymun Kickhams defender was shown a straight red card in the Leinster SFC final against Laois after he appeared to make contact with Evan O'Carroll’s face.

The GAA have upheld the ban for striking with the hand.

The defender had his case head before the Central Hearings Commitee, the suspension was upheld and so Small will not be available for the Jones' Road with the Ulster champions.

Small can bring his case to the Central Appeals Committee, sources close to the Dublin management suggest any further fight again the suspension is unlikely.

Last week his club mate Philly McMahon expressed surprise at the possibility of the sanction because he felt it was not a sending-off in the first place as the contact was accidental.

"I suppose when you see it - you see John going for the ball and then unfortunately he connects with the guy's face.

"But, just when you think about the environment and the way the game was - we were, kind of, pulling away a bit from Laois and I can never imagine somebody coming on and intentionally doing something like that when you're beating a team well.

"There's not that much long left in the game so for me, you could see he was reaching down to get the ball and certainly, from my point of view, it was accidental - an accidental collision with his hand and his face.

"It's a contact sport. If someone accidentally hits someone in the face - it's accidental. You shouldn't get punished for it. We play at such a high intensity in the environment that we play in and you just can't control everything.

"If someone has the ball close to his chest and you're reaching down to get the ball and it's close to his face - you're going to make contact with his face so it's the sport we play in - it's a physical contact sport and these things do happen," he added.


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