A TWO-GAME SUSPENSION this week means that Donegal will be without Neil McGee for a Championship game for the first time eleven years.
The Gaoth Dobhair man failed in his bid to have a red card against Fermanagh overturned, the Central Hearings Committee at Croke Park rejecting the full-back’s appeal on Tuesday night.
McGee was sent off late in the first half against Fermanagh and, because he had been given a one-game ban having been cited for an incident during the Allianz League game in Kerry, will now sit out Donegal’s next two Championship games.
It means that Donegal will have to replace McGee for this weekend’s Ulster SFC semi-final against Monaghan in Cavan.
The last time McGee didn’t play in the Championship was in 2005 and a 1-11 to 1-10 defeat by Cavan that was Brian McEniff’s last game as the Donegal manager.
[adrotate group=”43″]McGee was given his Championship debut by Brian McIver in 2006 for the 1-12 to 1-11 win over Down in Ballybofey – and he went on to make a remarkable 51 consecutive outings in Championship combat.
Initially deployed as a corner-back in the county colours, McGee has since won three All-Stars as a full-back, in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
In 2012, McGee’s Championship sequence was almost broken, but he managed to last all of three minutes in the Ulster semi-final against Tyrone. His hamstring gnawed at him in those early moments and his afternoon was over before it had begun and he was replaced by Declan Walsh.
[adrotate group=”53″]“He’s out of the game and it’s something we have to deal with,” Donegal manager Rory Gallagher said this week.
“Since half-time in the Fermanagh game he’s been suspended. It’s no different to being without any player. You just have to move on. That’s the reason you have a squad. These things always happen.
“I remember in 2012 playing Tyrone in a huge game. He twinged the hamstring in the warm-up and was gone after two minutes. We’d love to have him but we move on if we don’t.”
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