The National League's disciplinary committee yesterday overturned their decision to suspend Eddie Gormley for four matches as a result of an incident in the game against Shamrock Rovers last month.
The league had originally handed out the suspension on the basis of television footage which showed the midfielder hitting the referee with the ball after play had been stopped for a free kick. But it has been decided by the league's appeals board that neither the player nor his club had been given an adequate opportunity to answer the charges brought against him.
For Gormley, who was about to start a three-match suspension after reaching 20 disciplinary points, the additional ban would have meant a lay-off of almost two months, but the success of yesterday's appeal means that he will be available for next week's game against Bohemians.
St Patrick's chief executive Pat Dolan welcomed the decision yesterday. He said: "We have never condoned anybody hitting anybody else with the ball during a game but we always felt that this incident was blown out of all proportion and we're delighted that we can get on with things now."
Gormley's team-mate, Stephen McGuinness, has been suspended for one match as a result of his sending-off in the recent game against Derry City.
Longford's Ger Thompson and James O'Callaghan of Monaghan have also received one-match bans for receiving red cards while Graham Brett (UCD), Dave Byrne (Shelbourne) and Evan Creedon (Longford) will miss three games each after reaching 20 penalty points since the start of the season.
Mick Doohan became the first player to leave Oriel Park since the entire squad was placed on the transfer list when the former Bray Wanderers captain returned to the Carlisle Grounds for an undisclosed fee.
Wanderers manager Pat Devlin, whose side have conceded an average of four goals a game over their last five games, said the centre half was likely to go straight into the starting XI for tomorrow evening's Premier Division clash with Derry City.
Meanwhile, Dundalk expect to announce their plans for the rest of the season within the next three weeks. The club's board discussed a wide range of proposals on Tuesday evening.
Dundalk chairman Phil Flynn said: "The main areas being looked at are the structures of the club and the area of fund-raising, and we would hope to be in a position to put forward a fairly firm idea of what we are at in the very near future."
Flynn confirmed that turning the Oriel Park club into a co-operative was one of the options being considered at the moment but feels that either broadening the current share ownership base or bringing in new board members may be the route taken in the end.
Both he and manager Jim McLaughlin denied that further departures from the squad were likely in the immediate future.
Steve Williams, Ray Campbell and David Ward were among the players rumoured to be the targets of other clubs. But McLaughlin insisted yesterday that nothing firm had been put to the club regarding any of the three while he dismissed speculation linking Williams with a move to Sheffield United as "total rubbish".
Elsewhere, Fergal Harkin, available from Bohemians on a free transfer, has attracted the attention of several clubs with Finn Harps keen to bring the talented midfielder back to his native Donegal.
The FAI has confirmed the following technical appointments for underage international teams for the rest of the 1998/9 season: under-15 manager - Vincent Butler; coach - Bobby Smith; under-14 manager - Paddy Hilliard; coach - Aaron Callaghan.
