Longford to appeal loss of points

Longford Town will appeal the nine-point deduction imposed on the club at last night's emergency meeting of the National League board of control in Merrion Square.

The committee considered the case, which involved the eligibility of Avery John to take part in three recent league matches, for roughly an hour before a majority voted to impose the mandatory, three-point penalty for each game. Longford were also fined.

The problems arose after John, a Trinidad and Tobago international who played with Bohemians last season, signed for Longford last month following a brief spell on trial at Colchester United.

When John went to England, an international clearance was sent in order to allow him to play with the English club, and when he returned to Ireland another should have been obtained from the English FA to allow him play here again. This, however, was not done.

In addition, players who leave Ireland to play abroad are not allowed to play here again for eight weeks. John's appearance for his new club against Cork City, Bray Wanderers and Bohemians all came within this time frame, and on that basis the club has been adjudged to have breached both of these rules.

The penalty is a massive blow to the club which has, under Alan Matthews, performed strongly, steadily climbing the table to fourth place. After the deduction of the points Longford now sit at the foot of the table, alongside UCD who also have seven points.

But officials of the Flancare Park outfit last night insisted they would fight the decision, first with an appeal to the FAI, which must be lodged by next Wednesday and, if necessary, in the courts.

Jim Hanley, the club chairman, said last night: "I'm a little disappointed, but not hugely. The people who are appointed to this committee can only follow the rules as they are written, they have no discretion to interpret them or consider the spirit in which they were drawn up. When you move to a different forum, as we intend to when we appeal, probably tomorrow, people look beyond the written word and things change. So we are still confident about the eventual outcome."

At last night's meeting the club's representative on the board of control, Donald Keogh, maintained the club continued to believe it had done nothing wrong and argued that, as it had relied on lists of registered players sent to it by the league and on which the player in question was named, it was being punished for accepting the word of league administrators.

The FAI, meanwhile, have announced that Waterford's Jim O'Neill will referee this month's Carlsberg-sponsored cup final between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City.

Ireland's Under-19s drew their second friendly of the week against Hungary in Budapest. Willie Doyle of Bohemians gave Brian Kerr's side the lead in the 61st minute, but the locals equalised with nine minutes remaining thanks to a Josek Kanta goal.