Grehan faces 12-week ban

Roscommon defender Francie Grehan is facing a 12-week suspension as a result of an incident in the Connacht football championship game with Galway earlier this month. The GAA's Games Administration Committee (GAC) examined video evidence of the incident at their meeting on Wednesday night, and ruled that Grehan had stamped on Padhraic Joyce as the Galway captain lay on the ground.

Although Grehan wasn't disciplined at the time, television coverage of the game from Dr Hyde Park clearly highlighted the nature of the foul. Grehan, however, has been notified of the charge and has been given the option of a personal hearing at the next GAC meeting, should he have any evidence that may clear him of the offence.

The GAC are next due to meet on Monday afternoon in order to arrange venues for the first round of the All-Ireland football qualifiers. According to chairman Pauric Duffy, should Grehan decide not to attend, or send a representative, the GAC have the power to enforce the suspension, which would rule Grehan out of action until August 11th - with the 12-week suspension being enforced from the date of the game, May 19th.

With Roscommon involved in the first round of the qualifiers tomorrow week, this means that Grehan would only see further championship action this summer if the county manages to progress beyond the All-Ireland quarter-finals, scheduled for August 3rd/4th.

As their outstanding defender throughout last summer's run to a similar stage, Grehan is a significant loss to manager John Tobin as he attempts to raise his team again.

Two additional suspensions were announced yesterday. Donegal's John Haran and Longford's David Blessington were both suspended for four weeks following dismissals on May 12th in the games against Cavan and Louth respectively. Haran thus misses out on Donegal's game with Down on Sunday, while Blessington will also miss Longford's opening round in the qualifier series next Saturday.

The draw for that opening round of the All-Ireland qualifier will take place on Sunday evening, and broadcasted on RTE's The Sunday Game. The eight pairings will be decided on an open-draw basis, but, unlike last year, repeat meetings between counties who have already played in their respective provincial championships will not occur.

Already 12 of the 16 participating counties are known - Cavan, Tyrone, Monaghan, Roscommon, London, Wicklow, Longford, Carlow, Louth, Laois, Limerick and Waterford. They will be joined by the four teams that lose from the four games this Sunday - Dublin v Wexford, Meath v Westmeath, Donegal v Down and Antrim v Derry.

The draw will be a little more complicated than last year in order to avoid any repeat meetings between the counties involved. For example, since Laois and Wicklow have already met, should they be drawn in tandem then the subsequent two teams drawn will become their respective opponents. A similar scenario would arise with Louth and Longford, and possibly Donegal and Cavan and Westmeath and Carlow, depending on Sunday's results.

The determining of venues is also a little more complicated than last year since all games must go ahead the following Saturday (unless a draw interferes), and must be non-ticket.

Home advantage will automatically go to "weaker" counties drawn first, and meeting the criteria this season are 11 counties - Leitrim, Carlow, Wicklow, Longford, Wexford, London, Waterford, Limerick, Monaghan, Antrim and Tipperary.

That home advantage may be lost, however, if counties cannot provide a ground that doesn't necessitate an all-ticket game. In such cases the game would be switched to a neighbouring county with a ground sufficient to host a non-ticket game.

Meanwhile, the draw for the All-Ireland senior B hurling championship has been released. Round one on June 15th involves London and Kildare, with the quarter-finals set for June 29th (Westmeath v Roscommon, Laois v winners London/Kildare, Carlow v Wicklow, Kerry v losers of Down/Derry). The semi-finals take place on July 13th, and the final on July 27th - with venues to be decided.

Finally, the Leinster Council yesterday released ticket details for this weekend's two senior football championship matches. Tickets for the Dublin-Wexford meeting tomorrow evening (6.15) at Dr Cullen Park, Carlow will be on sale at three outlets on the approach to the stadium.

Similarly, tickets for Sunday's meeting between Meath and Westmeath in Portlaoise (3.45) will be available at two outlets on the approach to the stadium. In both cases standard tickets cost €10.