Clare's Fergus Tuohy has received a three-month suspension for his sending-off against Limerick in the National Hurling League on March 28th. As a result the Clare centre forward will not be available for the county's first championship outing, against Tipperary or Kerry, in Pairc Ui Chaoimh on June 6th.

Tuohy was just on the pitch as a second half substitute when he became involved in a fracas with Limerick's Stephen McDonagh on the sideline in front of the Mick Mackey stand in Limerick's Gaelic Grounds. Both players were sent off by referee Pat Ahearn. McDonagh subsequently received a one-month ban, but Tuohy requested a personal hearing for his case.

Meanwhile, the GAA's Management Committee scheduled to meet tonight to hear Westmeath's appeal against the landmark decision to accede to Carlow's request for a replay, Westmeath manager Brendan Lowry has said that his squad are attempting to involve themselves in normal training without focusing on who the opposition may be next Sunday.

"All we know is that we are due to play this Sunday, be it against Longford or Carlow again. Essentially, we have a job to do either way and we are just trying to prepare for that," he said.

Six players were sent off when Westmeath and Carlow met in the preliminary round of the Leinster championship last Sunday week and Carlow - who had four men sent off - objected on the grounds that referee Niall Barrett hadn't applied the correct rules.

The Westmeath team are now in a situation comparable to that of the Clare hurlers last summer when they believed they had reached the All-Ireland final after beating Offaly. However, on that occasion the GAC made a quick decision to hold a rematch when the referee Jimmy Cooney admitted his error in ending the game prematurely.

"Well, it's definitely a strange decision and last Sunday evening, we all felt that, yes, we were on to the next round," said Lowry.

"There had been some rumours of a replay but I honestly couldn't see it happening. But as we see it, Westmeath are still in the championship, the players are enjoying the training and we are looking forward to a match. We just hope the controversy stays away from us, it seems to have been following us around lately." Lowry will not attend tonight's hearing and is prepared to accept the decision if the Westmeath appeal fails.

"Well, Carlow felt they maybe deserved an appeal and I wouldn't criticise them for that, fair play to them if they get the replay."

Meanwhile referee Niall Barrett has stated that he had unsuccessfully sought for precise clarification in relation to the implementation of the new carding system before the game.

Barrett released a statement to a Cork newspaper over the weekend and said yesterday that he felt obliged to comment in order to defend his reputation.

"My integrity was being called into question, not my refereeing capabilities, and that's why I commented," Barrett said, politely declining to expand on his released statement.

He felt that the instructions he had received from Croke Park in relation to the championship game were vague in the extreme.

"There were doubts about what rules were to be operated for the championship and when I sought clarification from Croke Park there was nobody who could provide that clarification. On the Friday before the game I received a letter from Croke Park which contained a yellow and red card and I assumed that that was the card system which was to be used. There was no mention of a first caution," read the statement.

"The following day I was in touch with the Croke Park official who is the referee administrator for the county and for Munster and the real crux of the affair is that we are in conflict over what transpired between us."