IRISH STRIKER Roy O’Donovan on Wednesday lost his appeal against a 10-match ban for kicking a goalkeeper in the face during the grand final of Australia’s A-League.
The Newcastle Jets player was sent off and suspended for the flying kick which flattened Lawrence Thomas in the dying moments of Melbourne Victory’s 1-0 win on 5 May.
“The Independent Appeal Committee dismissed the appeal. The player must therefore serve the sanction determined by the FFA Independent Disciplinary and Ethics Committee, being 10-match suspension,” Football Federation Australia said.
The ban is the second-longest in A-League history. Only former Central Coast Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic has received a longer punishment, after his nine-month suspension for striking a referee in 2008.
It is not the first time O’Donovan has been hit with a multi-match ban.
In his first season in the A-League in 2016, with the Central Coast Mariners, he was handed an eight-week suspension for a headbutt.
