Alan Brogan admits he’s disappointed to see Diarmuid Connolly "back in trouble again" but believes that Dublin can reach an All-Ireland semi-final without the star forward.
Four-time All-Ireland winner Connolly was been hit with a 12-week ban for his actions in last Saturday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final win over Carlow, following a meeting of Croke Park’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC).
Connolly put his hand on the shoulder of linesman Ciarán Branagan after a sideline ball was awarded following a scuffle on the touchline.
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Brogan, who retired after 2015’s All-Ireland final success, told RTÉ Sport: "It’s disappointing to see Diarmuid back in trouble again.
"Looking at the incident, and I’ve watched it back a few times, I thought when he touched the linesman it wasn’t very aggressive.
"He gesticulated after that, which probably made it look a bit worse than what it was. But by the letter of the law, probably the suspension had to be put in front of him."
The proposed suspension would run out on the midnight before the second All-Ireland football semi-final, which takes place on 27 August.
The St Vincent’s clubman can appeal the decision - a route he went down successfully back in 2015 to earn a reprieve for the All-Ireland semi-final replay against Mayo.
"I’m sure it probably will go a little bit further," Brogan added.
"I think he’ll miss three games now, quite a severe suspension. If he got 12 weeks earlier on in the year or coming out of an All-Ireland final you mightn’t miss any games so I think that’s something that we need to look at as well.
"It’s disappointing to see him back in trouble again"
"But look, it’s disappointing to see him back in trouble again.
"I think he will [appeal]. Isn’t that what happens in most cases now, so I’d be surprised if they don’t.
"If he got a game’s suspension or a couple of games’ suspension they might have let it go but I think the fact that it’s a 12-week suspension, you miss three games, it’s probably too much not to have a try and have a look at appealing."
Dublin are going for three All-Ireland titles in a row and have not been seriously tested until the semi-final stages for the last two years, coasting to Leinster titles and recording relatively comfortable wins in the quarter-finals.
Brogan believes that even without the talented forward, Jim Gavin’s men will be in the running in August.
The St Oliver Plunketts/Eoghan Ruadh man said: "He is a big loss. Any county that loses a player of his calibre, it is going to hurt them. It will give somebody else an opportunity if he is suspended.
"The likelihood is Dublin play Westmeath [who meet Offaly on Sunday] the next day, they probably should get over that and they could be back in an All-Ireland semi-final without the services of Diarmuid Connolly."
Following on from his comments last night questioning how the incident was dealt with, Sunday Game pundit Joe Brolly suggested today that Connolly was perhaps suffering from his reputation proceeding him.
"The pressure was building on him. He was in the eye of a storm already coming into the game and he is systematically targeted by the opposition because he has that type of personality that reacts," he told RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Sean O'Rourke.
"He was put under huge pressure during the game by the Carlow boys.
"I thought the incident was inconsequential and so much so that the linesman didn't react at all, a very experienced inter-county referee, and didn't bring the referee's attention to it, didn't suggest that he had been interfered with and the referee was right there.
"The Dubs could have expected that there was nothing to it and that he hadn't crossed the line but then there was such a media furore, particularly with Pat Spillane, leading the stampede to have him banned.
"Why on earth would a Kerryman want to have Dublin's star forward banned?"
