Connolly still training with Dublin

Diarmuid Connolly has continued to train with the Dublin panel during his 12-week suspension, according to his team-mate Jonny Cooper.

Connolly put his hand on the shoulder of linesman Ciaran Branagan during Dublin's Leinster SFC defeat of Carlow on 3 June as they disputed the awarding of a sideline ball following a minor scuffle.

No action was taken at the time of the incident, but the Central Competitions Control Committee imposed a 12-week suspension after they reviewed the footage post-match, and found him guilty of 'minor physical interference'.

It is a grey area as to whether the suspension extends to training, and Connolly's Dublin team-mate Ciaran Kilkenny previously declined to comment when asked whether the St Vincent's clubman was part of Jim Gavin's training panel.

"Diarmuid is around, but not around for everything and I think he's on his own programme as well," Cooper said. 

"He's involved in the training aspects, as in the on-field things. He wasn't around for the last weekend that we were training, for example. 

"I don't know what he was doing, whether he was away with work or whatever. I don't know where he was. 

"But then he's on his own training programme with gym-based stuff and obviously keeping up his own conditioning. He's obviously not going to get any game time if we are to progress so it's just about trying to stay up at that level."

Connolly is suspended until midnight before the second All-Ireland football semi-final, which is scheduled for August 27, but Na Fianna defender Cooper says the 29-year-old seems determined to play again this summer.

"I don't know whether I'm interpreting it wrong or if he's feeling something else, but it looks to me like he's very focused on trying to get back into the team if we are to progress," he said.

Cooper, who has struggled for fitness himself this season following an ankle injury, says Connolly may find it difficult to get back into the team in August because he will lack the requisite match sharpness.

"It's a hard question to answer, to be honest," he continued.

"It is down to Jim and the management team — it's their call, assuming of course, that we get that far.

"It’s difficult to get up to that level you need to be at purely from training.

"There's also lads who have something a little bit different to offer — some of the other guys or maybe some of the more established lads who haven't played as much as Diarmuid in the last few years."

Image: Inpho/James Crombie

 eir Sport channels are available across the eir Vision, Sky and Vodafone TV platforms as well as on the eir Sport app. All 7 channels in the eir Sport pack are available for free if you are a residential eir broadband customer