Ahearne's whistle is silent

Inter-County referee Pat Aherne has withdrawn his services from his local Carlow club scene. Aherne was responding to the failure of the county board to adopt his report relating to a sending off incident in a local senior hurling championship match earlier this year.

Inter-county defender Niall Foley of Naomh Eoin was sent off by Aherne in the club's championship outing against Naomh Brid last April 23rd. In a straight red card offence, Foley was reported for striking with the hurley but the Carlow disciplinary committee subsequently delivered a one-month ban on the player - even though a three-month ban is the minimum for such an offence.

That also made the player available for Carlow's crucial final National Hurling League games and the Leinster senior hurling championship round-robin series but after the findings of the disciplinary committee, Aherne subsequently withdrew his services for senior games in the county.

GAA president Sean McCague has now intervened and summoned the officers of Carlow County Board to a meeting in Croke Park to explain their handling of the referee's report and how their deliberations arrived at a one-month ban for striking with the hurley. Carlow County Board secretary Tom O'Neill explained yesterday that "the situation is on-going with Croke Park and the other parties involved" and was unable to throw any more light on the issue until the matter is concluded.

In the meantime, Carlow referees have called a special meeting for this Friday evening to discuss a number of grievances, including the Pat Aherne episode, and the situation of bringing in referees from outside the county to officiate at games. Although the senior hurling and football championship has reached a crucial stage, Aherne has not taken charge of any games over the past number of months.

Elsewhere, the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA) have delayed the announcement of the two remaining intercounty players to join the eight high-profile names revealed last week in the £50,000 endorsement deal with the Malbourough Group. It was suggested that the remaining two players, both of whom were involved in last weekend's championship encounters, would be named early this week but that is not now expected until after the All-Ireland finals. RTE's Primetime will this evening address the GPA's sponsorship deal and range of implications it has for the GAA.