Appeal process 'a joke'

Rory O'Connell suspension: Westmeath midfielder Rory O'Connell has described as "a joke" the appeal heard against his 12-week suspension, which forces him out of Sunday's Leinster football semi-final with Wexford and is set to keep him sidelined until August 15th.

The GAA's management committee heard his appeal at the weekend but ruled that the Games Administration Committee (GAC) did not misapply any rule in dealing with the alleged stamping incident, and therefore decided to uphold the suspension.

O'Connell's loss to Westmeath could prove significant. He already missed Westmeath's quarter-final win over Dublin, the result of the straight red card received against Offaly back on May 16th, when he was reported for stamping on Pascal Kelleghan.

Although Kelleghan produced a letter denying he had been stamped on, the GAC applied the suspension based on the referee's report.

"For a start it seemed the management committee didn't even want to hear about it," said O'Connell, who in 2001 became Westmeath's first All Star. "All they wanted to know was if the GAC had somehow applied the rule inappropriately. So the only way the appeal was going to be successful was on a technicality, whether I was innocent or not, and that to me is wrong.

"And before that, at the GAC meeting, there were 12 people that sat in front of me, and there was only one question asked. To me it seemed they already had their minds made up. So I just feel like I've got a raw deal here, and been treated very harshly."

What also came against O'Connell was the lack of video evidence. On the advice of his linesman, who saw the incident, the match referee, Paddy Russell, issued the red card, and later reported O'Connell for stamping. And even the letter from Kelleghan was unable to overturn that.

"I've been in contact with Pascal a number of times since," added O'Connell, "and he's been honestly saying that I did not stamp on him. Instead I was just pulling my leg away. And there's no way I would go to a fellow GAA player and ask him to say something unless I was totally sure about it.

"So it's been so disheartening for me, and very hard to take, especially with Westmeath being 70 minutes away from a Leinster final. And with the real potential to win it for the first time. I just don't feel like I got a proper hearing.

"I think this highlights once again the big inconsistencies when it comes to discipline in the GAA."

In the meantime, O'Connell continues to train with the Westmeath panel, but unless they make the All-Ireland championship semi-final he won't see any more championship football this summer.

The team for Sunday's meeting with Wexford will be announced after training tomorrow evening, with David Mitchell rumoured to be coming back into the starting line-up having come on against Dublin to such good effect.

Whoever loses between Westmeath and Wexford goes into the draw later that evening for round two of the All-Ireland qualifiers, which are set for the following Saturday. The eight survivors from round one of the qualifiers will be drawn against the eight beaten provincial semi-finalists.

The qualifier winners are Dublin, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Clare, Fermanagh, Derry, and Down. Five of the beaten provincial semi-finalists are known: Cork, Waterford, Cavan, Tyrone and Meath. They will be joined by three more, the losers of Roscommon and Leitrim and Mayo and Galway in Connacht, and either Wexford or Westmeath.

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA), meanwhile, have accused a rival sports drinks company, Lucozade, of undermining their deal with Club Energise. The GPA say Lucozade's claim that their product is the "leading drink of GAA players" is a blatant attempt to deflect from a massive loss of market share to Club Energise, which the GPA claim is "the official players' choice".

Finally, the death has taken place of former Fethard and Tipperary footballer Dick Allen, who was the last surviving member of the 1935 Tipperary senior team which won the Munster final, the last time Tipperary achieved this feat.