Declan Bonner hit with 12-week ban following Ulster dismissal 

Boss Declan Bonner, as well as team physio Mickey McGlynn, are both facing lengthy bans following their sending-offs in Na Rossa’s ill-tempered Ulster JFC loss to Lisnaskea. 

As well as those proposed suspensions, believed to be 12 weeks each, the club has also been hit with a monetary fine. 

The sanctions were this week handed down by the Ulster Competitions Control Committee (CCC) following the submission of Derry referee Richie Donoghue’s match report. 

Five Na Rossa personnel in total - including players Denis O’Donnell, Christian Bonner and Sean McMonagle - received their marching orders in a game the Fermanagh champions, who themselves went down to 14, just about shaded 2-5 to 1-9.    

Former Donegal manager Bonner was banished to the stands immediately after half-time and McGlynn was shown his red in the course of the second-half. However, McGlynn remained on the sideline and continued to attend to injured players. 

DonegalLive understands both were sent off for allegedly using abusive language towards the match officials. 

Speaking after events in O’Donnell Park a fortnight ago, Bonner labelled the performance of the match officials “a disgrace”. 

“We always look at our end of it and our discipline end of it. But what went on was unbelievable.

“He was lashing out yellow cards like they were confetti. In all my time involved, I’ve never seen officiating like it. It was an absolute disgrace.

“The overall officiating from the linesmen and the fourth official was not good either. They seemed to have a real attitude coming in there today.

“I’ve been involved in football for a long long time and I can take the good with the bad. But when you come up against the likes of what we saw out there today it is very disappointing and very disheartening”.

A snippet of the exact alleged offences, purporting to be from the referee’s official match report, was being widely circulated on WhatsApp groups earlier this week. 

However, attempts to contact both the Ulster and Donegal CCCs on the legitimacy of that  proved unsuccessful. 

As the bans are only being proposed at this moment both Bonner and McGlynn, as well as the Na Rossa club, have the right to ask for personal hearings on their respective charges. 

And, if they so wish, have three days from receipt of notification to request those hearings.

Efforts made to contact officials from the Na Rossa club for comment, on the above, were also unsuccessful.