DANNY SUTCLIFFE HAS hit out at the trial by TV that landed Dublin team-mate Conal Keaney in disciplinary trouble.
Keaney was cleared this week of allegedly stamping on Limerick’s Cian Lynch during the Allianz National Hurling League quarter-final.
Referee Diarmuid Kirwan took no action at the time but after the incident was replayed on RTÉ League Sunday, the Central Competitions Control Committee retrospectively proposed a two-match ban which has since been thrown out.
“It was a joke that it came up in the first place — the Sunday Game at him, the Sunday Game crew at him again,” Sutcliffe argued.
“It would be an awful time for him to lose out at this time of year. If it was two games, like if Sunday doesn’t go well, that’s his Championship game so that’s an awful time of the year [to get a ban].
Luckily they did the right thing which was to overrule it. It’s gone now.
Keaney has been transformed from wing-forward to wing-back under new boss Ger Cunningham, and Sutcliffe believes his more senior team-mate is enjoying his new surroundings.
“Obviously he mightn’t play there for us but he’s used to it. It’s the exact same thing, winning high balls above his opponent, and he’s enjoying it back there.
I suppose he’s a man to turn to if things aren’t going well. If you aim at him, [puck outs] will always go to him.
“He’s given us so much from wing-back now. I’m behind him, I’m on his wing, and puck outs are normally coming deep and I can get the break, but he’s catching so much of them. He’s enjoying it.”
– Dublin v Cork, Nowlan Park, Sunday 2pm (live on TG4)
