Donegal have become the latest county to object to their championship defeat. The county board decided last night to take their case to the Ulster Council after Croke Park's Games Administration Committee had ruled invalid the sendings-off of Armagh's Oisin McConville and Martin Coll of Donegal.
This follows unsuccessful attempts by both Carlow and Tipperary to have re-fixtures ordered following officiating errors in their football championship matches against Westmeath and Kerry, respectively. Carlow succeeded at Leinster Council level but had the decision overturned by the GAA's Management Committee whereas Munster Council turned down Tipperary's objection.
According to a statement, Donegal have requested an emergency meeting of the Ulster Council Activities Committee and will lodge an objection to the adoption of the referee's report at that meeting.
Donegal maintain that they conceded the crucial goals after Coll's dismissal for a second bookable offence and that the error had a material impact on the game. Referee Michael Curley showed Coll a yellow card at the start of the second half in respect of a foul committed just before the interval.
This was ruled invalid and consequently his second yellow card should not have resulted in dismissal in the 45th minute.
McConville was sent off after 20 minutes when the referee's attention was drawn to an off-the-ball incident involving the Crossmaglen player and Niall McCready following which the Donegal player was seen on the ground.
Video evidence revealed, however, to the GAC that McConville had not struck his opponent and GAA sources could not rule out that McCready may have to account for his role in the incident.
Galway footballers meanwhile have an injury concern about 1998 Footballer of the Year Jarlath Fallon. The Tuam player injured a finger while training with weights earlier in the week. Although the finger is now in plaster, he was able to train with the panel and the injury is not longterm.
Manager John O'Mahony did have better news on the injury front. "Kevin Walsh came through his club match at the weekend and is available for selection. Tomas Mannion is also back although his general level of fitness needs improvement."
Galway's hurling counterparts Offaly begin their defence of the All-Ireland on Sunday with a Leinster semi-final against Wexford.
They leave three vacancies, at left wing back, centre forward and left corner forward.
Kevin Martin is rated as relatively hopeful and a 50-50 chance of filling the wing back position. There are three very experienced forwards in line for the two forward positions. Michael Duignan and Billy Dooley are recovering from hamstring strains whereas Joe Erritty has a shoulder injury.
Erritty is also thought likely to play, leaving Dooley and Duignan in contention for the last place, should they satisfy selectors about their fitness. If not, Gary Hanniffy is a possible replacement.
Ger Oakley comes in at centrefield with Johnny Pilkington moving to wing forward where he moved at stages last year and where he played during this year's League. Oakley is partnered by Paudie Mulhare.
After the good news that Joe Rabbitte and Justin Campbell were returning to the Galway hurling panel comes a setback for manager Matt Murphy. Liam Burke, the county's star centrefielder, has had to withdraw from training because of a recurrence of his chronic back injury. Galway's Connacht final with Roscommon is due tomorrow fortnight.
Clare's footballers name an injury-hit selection for the Munster semi-final with Kerry. There are two vacancies in the attack, at right wing forward and full forward. Ger Keane is in line for the former position and Odran O'Dwyer for the latter. Both are suffering from hamstring injuries.
Derry give championship debuts to four hurlers including inter-county footballer Emmett McKeever who played for the county in last year's All-Ireland football semi-final defeat by Galway.
As in football, he will play at corner back and is part of an entirely new full-back line.
