Monaghan suspend manager Seamus McEnaney for 12 weeks after Covid-19 breach

Monaghan have moved to suspend manager Seamus McEnaney for 12 weeks after it emerged overnight that the county had contravened Covid-19 regulations by holding a training session.

The Irish Independent revealed on Thursday morning that video footage and images of the session had come to light and had been passed on to the newspaper and the Government and from there to the Gardaí and Department of Health.

Although the event is believed to have pre-dated last week’s similar breach by the Dublin footballers, it is a most unwelcome development for the GAA, who this afternoon will launch a structure for the coming intercounty season.

Monaghan's action was taken straight from the Dublin playbook, which saw the county immediately suspend manager Dessie Farrell for 12 weeks. Croke Park appeared to have accepted Dublin's intervention but that remains to be seen.

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The Management Committee appointed a sub-committee to investigate the Dublin situation and that was due to report today (Thursday). Regardless of what the sub-committee recommended, Management still have to sign off on it and Thursday’s revelations might affect reactions.

Whereas the feeling up until now was that the earlier breaches of these directives in Cork and Down had set some sort of a benchmark for penalties - 12 weeks for Cork manager Ronan McCarthy and eight weeks for Down's Paddy Tally - there may now be a need for enhanced deterrents.

McCarthy has yet to accept his suspension which goes before the GAA’s independent arbitration body the Disputes Resolution Authority within the next few days.

The full statement read: “Monaghan GAA acknowledge that following an investigation this morning, there was a breach of the Covid-19 regulations and guidelines.

“Resulting from an internal investigation, our senior team manager, Seamus McEnaney, has admitted that this was a serious error of judgement and apologies unreservedly for the indiscretion. The county management committee have suspended the Monaghan GAA senior football manager, Seamus McEnaney for 12 weeks with immediate effect and will fully cooperate and comply with any Croke Park investigation.”

The GAA’s Management Committee will presumably appoint another sub-committee - a third since the start of the year - to investigate the latest breach of both association rules and public health directives.

Indications are that this latest embarrassment will not necessarily affect the planned return to intercounty training, authorised by Government for April 19th but that date cannot come around quickly enough for Croke Park.

Indications are that this latest embarrassment will not necessarily affect the planned return to intercounty training, authorised by Government for April 19th. Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers did, however, express his unhappiness with developments.

“The latest reports will cause great anger to all those who have been adhering to the rules and have made great sacrifices. Any breach of the public health rules like this is unacceptable. This undermines the public health messaging when our GAA stars and sports teams should be supporting them and leading by example as role models.

“My officials from the Department of Sport have been in touch with the GAA to re-emphasise that all breaches undermine the broader public health messaging. The GAA will now be fully investigating this incident to establish the full facts.

“I expect the GAA will also now be directly engaging with all the county boards to seek assurances that counties are fully complying with the public health restrictions.

“Any breach needs to be fully investigated with appropriate sanctions for those who are found to have undermined the public health guidelines.

“The GAA also needs to re-emphasise to all county boards that there must be full compliance with the restrictions between now and the 19th of April when the phased return to sport is due to recommence.”

That date cannot come around quickly enough for Croke Park.