DRA to rule in Tyrone case

Ryan McMenamin's appearance before the Dispute Resolution Authority (DRA) tomorrow night is the fourth case for the arbitration group set up by Congress to ensure players stay out of court when seeking to overturn suspensions.

McMenamin is seeking a dismissal of a four-week ban received for dropping his knee on John McEntee in the Ulster final replay on July 24th. Referee Michael Collins showed him a yellow card for the offence but the Central Disciplinary Committee overruled this decision.

The Central Appeals Committee took a similar stance on Friday night to uphold the charge of dangerous play.

A favourable aspect of the DRA is they managed to convene at 11am on Saturday as McMenamin sought an interim release to play in the fourth-round qualifier against Monaghan.

They refused the application on the grounds that they were "not convinced that the definitive case had been made".

The three-man DRA committee is made up of former supreme court judge Hugh O'Flaherty (chair), former Na Fianna footballer Aaron Shearer, who is also a barrister, and Declan Hallissey of St Josephs/OCB GAA club in Dublin.

Tyrone still managed to beat Monaghan's but not before Thomas Freeman exploited several weaknesses in the full-back line with both Shane Sweeney and Chris Lawn replaced before the second half started.

This will undoubtedly be the most high-profile DRA case to date, even eclipsing the ongoing saga over the eligibility of Kilmacud Crokes' Mark Vaughan.

The other two cases concerned the affiliation of a GAA club in Cork and a suspended Galway management official.

Liam Keane is the authority's secretary and he has been adamant that it is an independent tool to give GAA members a final outlet against suspensions: "We are separate from the GAA structures. As I have said before, although we are a creature of the GAA, we are a separate entity."

Armagh also intend to bring the suspensions of Ciarán McKeever and Paul McGrane before the authority this week.

They are not under the same time constraints as Tyrone, with their next match, the All-Ireland quarter-final against Laois, not until August 20th.

"We are just starting work on the process today and will put in an application to the DRA early this week," said Armagh County Board secretary Pat Nugent. "We feel the disciplinary committee put the wrong procedures in place.

"We got a fair hearing from the appeals committee but were disappointed they felt no regulations were breached."

Meanwhile, the Games Administration Committee have ruled out moving the All-Ireland football semi-final between Cork and Kerry to a Munster venue. Just like the corresponding fixture in 2002, the match will go ahead in Croke Park on August 28th.

The All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final, between Dublin and Limerick, fixed for Portlaoise on Saturday week, has been switched to Nowlan Park. With Laois footballers in All-Ireland action that weekend, the county board were unable to guarantee a full complement of stewards, forcing the GAC to switch venues to Kilkenny.

Dublin chairman John Bailey had pushed to have the fixture moved to this Saturday in Croke Park, before the senior footballers' match against Tyrone, but this has been ruled out.

The Limerick County Board may ratify Joe McKenna as senior hurling manager tonight. A final decision is likely to be deferred until September but county chairman Denis Holmes has praised McKenna and his selectors Liam Lenihan and Ger Cunningham for what he described as a job well done in difficult circumstances since taking over from Padjoe Whelahan.

Mindful that Limerick have had five managers in eight years, delegates are likely to favour continuity. However, McKenna has not yet made himself available. He runs a highly successful hardware business in Limerick city.

"It has been a long year for me and I want to take stock. The bottom line is that I want what is best for Limerick hurling," he said.

In team news, Cork's hurling and Dublin's football line-up are expected later tonight. Both camps report no injury problems and so little change is expected, although John Allen hinted after the quarter-final victory over Waterford that he might address the problems at half forward.

No white smoke is expected from their opponents, Clare and Tyrone, until Thursday at the earliest.