Naomh Colmcille’s appeal of controversial ban to be heard on Tuesday next

Naomh Colmcille, the Donegal GAA club at the centre of the controversial suspenion by Donegal GAA, are due to have their appeal against the ban heard on Tuesday night.  

The Newtowncunningham based club has been hit with a proposed eight week ban by the Donegal GAA County Management for allowing a fundraising soccer tournament be played on their grounds.

The hearing date for  the appeal has been confirmed by Donegal PRO John McEniff.

The appeal will be heard by the Donegal Hearings’ Committee.

Neither the Donegal board or the Naomh Colmcille club are making any comment on the controversial ban which has become a huge national story since news of the ban emerged on Tuesday morning.

The story has been covered widely not only locally but has also featured on RTE and BBC Northern Ireland, both radio and television.

And the man who the fundraising tournament was held in aid of, Paul Dillion, pleaded on the national airwaves with the Donegal board to lift the threat of suspension.  

The tournament was in aid of  local man Paul Dillon, a former Naomh Colmcille player and dedicated underage coach, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease at the beginning of January.

Paul Dillon is a  young married man with three children and the funds raised were to make adjustments to facilitate the illness.

The tournament, a seven-a-side, was played in the middle of February with five or six teams, both male and female teams, mainly drawn from local community taking part. It was really a fun event and no  formal teams either soccer or Gaelic football took part.

The tournament was part of a major fundraising drive organised by the local community that raised €85,000 in a little over three weeks.