“It’s in tatters to be quite honest” – Declan Bonner slams CCCC for overturning Armagh suspensions

"It leaves the CCCC with a lot of questions to answer."

Donegal overcame a limp-looking Armagh side to book their spot in the semi-final of the Ulster championship. In what ended up being a fairly controlled and comfortable win in the end, Donegal had to overcome a lot of off-field distractions beforehand. As was well documented, four Armagh players were handed suspensions for this game during their last league tie, which happened to be against the same opponents. Stefan Campbell, Aidan Nugent, Rian O'Neill and Ciarán Mackin, were all hit with the book, while Donegal's Neil McGee and Odhran McFadden-Ferry were also banned. Declan Bonner's side made the decision to not appeal their player's suspensions, while the Orchard county did appeal, and successfully got the decisions overturned. Despite the win, the Donegal manager was clearly still irked by the whole process, and explained why they didn't appeal the decision themselves.

“We weren’t going to waste two or three weeks to see would we or would we not have players available to be quite honest. We made that decision and that was it. Normally the referee’s report is not going to be overturned,” Bonner said. “I was very surprised, to be honest, that it did happen. It leaves the CCCC with a lot of questions to answer in terms of how they’re going to go around with the disciplinary hearing again because it’s in tatters to be quite honest.

“But it’s nothing to do with us, we just got on with the job at hand, and as I said, getting the players ready. “At the minute, I’ve no confidence, no. Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, as I say, we’ll just get ready for the semi-final now.”