FR O’NEILL’S PLAYERS Mark O’Keeffe and Billy Dunne are set to miss next Saturday’s All-Ireland club hurling final at Croke Park after having their one-match bans upheld in the wake of the red cards they received in their semi-final success.
The East Cork club advanced to the intermediate decider against Kilkenny’s Tullaroan with their 0-19 to 1-12 semi-final success over Mayo’s Tooreen but their victory was clouded by the dismissals of O’Keeffe and Dunne.
The GAA’s CHC (Central Hearings Committee) found the infractions proven in the case of both players when they met last night and imposed the one-match suspensions which will rule them out of Saturday’s game.
O’Keeffe was sent-off for ‘behaving in any way which is dangerous to an opponent’ while Dunne was sanctioned for ‘striking or attempting to strike with a hurley with minimal force’.
Both players have the option of appealing the decision of the CHC to the CAC (Central Appeals Committee).
The pair are key players for their side, who also won Cork senior hurling medals last year with divisional outfit Imokilly. They started in attack in the semi-final success with O’Keeffe scoring 0-2 and Dunne raising a white flag prior to their dismissals.
Throw-in for Saturday’s intermediate final is 6pm and it will be preceded by another Cork-Kilkenny meeting as Russell Rovers take on Conahy Shamrocks in the junior final at 4pm.
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Kildare hurlers closer to kilkenny level than their footballers are to Dublin
Great game of hurling watched it on tg4 YouTube. Pity it didnt get more exposure
Kildare goalie was Mark Doyle. Clane clubmate of Paddy McKenna who didn’t start.
@Tony O’ Grady: Thanks for flagging that, Tony. Duly amended.