DERRY team spokesman Frank Kearney has denied that three players have been suspended from the county panel for playing with their clubs at the weekend. Enda Muldoon and his Ballinderry teammate Sean Donnelly and Paul McFlynn from Loup were said to have been asked to leave training earlier this week for defying a management request not to play with their clubs ahead of Sunday's Ulster semi-final with Tyrone.

"We didn't take any disciplinary action against those players," said Kearney. "They went home themselves, they were not sent home.

"The manager expressed disappointment that they should play for their clubs just a week before the county's most important match for 12 months."

Of the players at the centre of the dispute, Muldoon came on as a substitute in the two championship matches against Monaghan, but neither Donnelly nor McFlynn have yet appeared on the first team this campaign.

In Donegal, PJ McGowan has asked for some time to consider his position before making a statement on his future after three years in charge of the county footballers. Significantly, former manager Brian McEniff who led the county to its 1992 All-Ireland success has ruled himself out of contention. "I'm definitely not coming back, I'm not in the scenario," he said.

McEniff has also indicated that should he be appointed as Ulster Railway Cup manager, it will be his last year in the position he has held since 1984.