You are either in the Connolly camp or you are not - so it appears

It is unbelievable to think that two camps have developed surrounding the proposed 12-week ban on Diarmuid Connolly for his 'laying of hands' on Down official Ciaran Branagan during Dublin's Leinster SFC quarter-final win over Carlow.
How can any self-respecting sports person convince themselves that putting their hands aggressively on a match official doesn't deserve to be punished. There is no place in sport for abuse of officials - verbal or physical - simple as that.
Everyone losses their cool now and then. We have all vented our frustration at referees decisions, but to have the arrogance to push an official or jab a finger in his face, just because you feel aggrieved, shatters the ethos of fair play and deserves to be punished.
Just because Ciaran Branagan didn't go to ground clutching his face - a la Sergio Ramos - and just because Connolly didn't take a run and swing at the Down official doesn't make the incident any less serious.
Diarmuid Connolly is an outstanding footballer, one of the finest to ever grace Croke Park. He is the darling of Hill 16 and an icon and inspiration to thousands of kids in the capital and around the country - therein lies the problem.
If Diarmuid Connolly gets away with shoving a match official, then those that look up to him will start to believe the same. Those lessons carry from sport into life and such disrespect cannot be allowed.
Off The Ball last week former Blackhall Gaels player Robert Cox recalled how he received a 48-week ban for kicking a ball aggressively in the direction of a referee in a Junior B game.
Cox believes he deserved a ban even though his frustration was nothing more than kicking a ball at a referee who was 30 metres away and missing him by a big margin, it was the aggression of the act (and a few subsequent verbals) that earned him his censure.
However, the 48 weeks was very excessive in that case and led to Cox falling out of love with the game and association he had a passion for for a few years.
So as for Connolly, how long will Jim Gavin tolerate the St Vincent's man's almost constant indiscipline? His actions are hurting his team, is he becoming a liability?
The likelihood is that Dublin will reach the All-Ireland semi-finals and Connolly will have served his 12-week ban - will he walk straight back into the team?
If, how long will it be before he's walking straight off again?

MEDIA RESTRICTIONS
Media restrictions drive me bananas.
What purpose do they serve?
Do managers have so little faith in the communication skills of their players that they don't let them speak to the supporters via the medium of media.
Interviews are not conducted to serve the best interest of the media outlet, they are done to provide supporters of sport, in this case Meath GAA, with an insight into their heroes.
On Tuesday evening of last week the Meath senior football manager and three players invited members of the press to attend a media afternoon in Dowth Hall to preview next Saturday's Leinster SFC semi-final clash with Kildare.
Less than 48 hours later that invite was revoked because the event had been cancelled - no further information was provided and it became increasingly clear that the event wouldn't be rescheduled.
For what purpose?
The unofficial line was that management wanted to keep the spotlight off the players.
Who do they think the spotlight is going to be on next Saturday?
The Meath lads are an articulate, clever and at times very accommodating bunch when it comes to media requests, but it seems the pressures of the Kildare game are enough of a load for them to be dealing with.
I can understand not wanting to propel a rookie into the limelight, but there are enough experienced campaigners on the Meath panel who are more than capable of offering an insight into the test ahead.
Could they not take centre stage?
The majority of these type of press days are sterile events. The questions are mostly softball - How are preparations going? Are you expecting a tough game? What's the mood in the camp?
The answers are almost always equally predictable, but the supporters love to hear from their heroes.
Every individual is his own character, supporters want to feel closer to the players and most of the time the best way to do that is through the media.
However, management teams have become more and more paranoid, sheltering their players from the vicious houndings of the press dogs - they shouldn't worry at all because our bark is worse than our bite.