Irvinestown Wanderers’ Ben Thompson has had his 15-game suspension over-turned at Monday night’s Fermanagh and Western Disciplinary Committee meeting.

Thompson was hit by the suspension after he was alleged to have pushed referee David Hamilton in the league encounter against Beragh Swifts at the end of September at the Bawnacre, which led to the abandonment of the game.

Thompson had been Red Carded in the game and has already served a three-game suspension for the offence.

Irvinestown were adamant though that Thompson had not pushed the referee, and with referee Hamilton refusing to appear at the hearing, their appeal of the suspension was upheld by the Disciplinary Committee on Monday night.

“The referee in question chose not to appear in person at the meeting, and that made it very difficult to adjudge what had actually happened,” said Fermanagh and Western chairman, Neil Jardine.

“There were very disparate points of views on what happened and really without any independent witnesses, we couldn’t prove or determine what the facts were, so we had no choice but to remove the additional 15-game suspension.”

At last Thursday night’s Fermanagh and Western League meeting, Irvinestown were found guilty of causing the abandonment of the game, and were hit with a £200 fine and a 3-0 win was awarded to Beragh Swifts.

That meeting had been pushed back from October as Irvinestown had requested that the referee appear in person at the meeting, but after requests from the Fermanagh and Western to find a suitable date for him to attend, he informed the committee that he would be taking no further part in the process.

Irvinestown Wanderers do have the option of appealing the fine and the decision to award the game to Beragh Swifts.