ARMAGH will be without Rian O’Neill for Sunday’s crunch All-Ireland Championship showdown with Galway after the Orchard failed in their bid to have his red card against Tyrone overturned.
The Crossmaglen ace was contesting the red card picked up 26 minutes into that June 3 defeat against the Red Hands, with the case heard by the GAA's Central Hearings Committee.
However, O'Neill's one-match suspension has not been lifted, and he will not be available for Armagh’s final Group Two game against the Tribe in Carrick-on-Shannon.
O’Neill was shown a red card by referee Martin McNally after his knee appeared to make contact with the head of Cormac Quinn - though O'Neill insisted the Tyrone man had "pulled him down by the jersey", according to Orchard boss Kieran McGeeney after the game.
Armagh currently occupy third spot in Group Two and, thanks largely to an opening win over Westmeath, are on course to earn at least a spot in the preliminary quarter-finals, which take place on the weekend of June 24/25.
However, if they were to lose to Padraic Joyce’s men at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, and Westmeath shocked Tyrone at Kingspan Breffni, it could see the Orchard exiting the Championship on scoring difference.
