Monaghan GAA player at centre of failed drug test is hit with a two-year ban

We smell an appeal.

The Irish Sports Council have come down hard on the player at the centre of the drugs storm during this year's GAA season. You may remember that last month it was confirmed that a member of the extended Monaghan GAA panel had failed a drug test. The GPA offered its support to the player, and now this evening the name of the man at the centre of the controversy, and the ban he has received, has been revealed. In what seems to be a somewhat confusing statement, Thomas Connolly has been found guilty of a doping violation and originally faced a four-year ban. But because the ISP deemed it to be  an unintentional violation, his ban is set at two years. The substance that Connolly has been found guilty of having in his system is Stanozolol, an anabolic steroid, which was found in a sample provided in an out-of-competition test taken on the 13th of February. According to the Irish Sports Council statement the player has 21 days to appeal,

"The GAA and the Irish Sports Council jointly announce that the GAA Anti-Doping Hearings Committee determined that player Thomas Connolly has committed an anti-doping rule violation. "Thomas Connolly, a GAA player from Monaghan, has been sanctioned by a period of ineligibility of 2 years commencing on the 18th March 2015 - the date on which he was provisionally suspended by the GAA, subject to rights of appeal within 21 days under the Irish Anti-Doping Rules. This was a reduction from the standard period of 4 years' ineligibility because the GAA Anti-Doping Hearings Committee was of the view that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional, under article 10.1.3 of the Irish Anti-Doping Rules. In an out of competition doping control test on the 13th February he provided a sample which tested positive for the presence of a prohibited substance, 3'-hydroxystanozolol glucuronide (Stanozolol). "The hearing was held on under Article 8 (Disciplinary Process) of the Irish Anti-Doping Rules and this announcement is made pursuant to Article 15 (Public Disclosure) of the Rules."