Another court case is looming on the GAA's increasingly litigious horizon. Just as the Kerry County Board has been billed for €30,000 in respect of a court case taken two years ago a similar action is being threatened.

The grievances concern the right of players to transfer to clubs outside their parish boundary, a process not allowed under what is known as "the parish rule". This rule doesn't apply in all counties but is designed to prevent small clubs losing their best players.

Players from within the boundary of the Firies parish wish to transfer to the neighbouring club of Listry. In the original case under-16 players who had been prohibited from transferring secured an interlocutory injunction against the Kerry board enforcing the decision. A full hearing never took place and the Firies club had to withdraw its objection to the transfer.

Kerry chairman Seán Walsh has said that due to the costs involved, the county board may seek to recover the costs from the club that benefits from the acquisition of players in such a fashion.

The Listry club was and is not a party to the proceedings, which are taken by individuals, but it is the club that benefits from a breach of the parish rule - a provision that was not struck down by the High Court in granting the temporary injunction.

"People who wish to go outside GAA rules in taking players should have to bear the cost of doing so. Otherwise clubs have to be asked: do you want the parish rule or not? And when asked last year they decided they did want it. We have to uphold the rules as decided by the clubs in Kerry."

The €30,000 costs have yet to be submitted to the Taxing Master so the bill isn't final but whatever the eventual figure, it represents considerable expenditure for a county board to say nothing of a club or individual. Walsh hopes that the present dispute can be resolved before it gets to that level.

"I've met Listry officials and have been talking to them about the issue and hope to be able to come back with a solution. It's simply a geographical matter. The Listry pitch is located within a mile of some families in the Firies parish while the Firies pitch is six miles away. But if it can't be sorted out we are obliged to fight for our rules."

Walsh raised the matter at a county board meeting at which he was also critical of the GAA Special Review Committee chairman Peter Quinn for comments made after the special congress, which largely rejected the proposals of this year's SRC report. "I was very critical," he said, "of his suggestions that the GAA is badly managed. No one can look at Croke Park and what has happened in the last 10 years and say that it's been badly managed. If it had been, the new stadium wouldn't be there. The success is down to the leadership of the GAA in that time and I specifically included Peter Quinn and his presidency in that."

Errigal Ciarán's chances of having Peter Canavan available for Sunday's Ulster club replay at Crossmaglen are no better than 50-50, according to manager Mickey Harte. The former Footballer of the Year sustained a dead leg after a heavy tackle by Francie Bellew and was substituted after 20 minutes. In a desperate last throw of the dice, Canavan was sent on for the last couple of minutes as Errigal forced the draw but his damaged leg has since become badly swollen.

"It swelled up around the knee, and is still very sore," said Harte. "He will be getting further assessment of the injury once the swelling goes down, but hopefully it's just bruising, we just don't know. If the game was to be played tomorrow, he would have no chance of playing, but we have a few days yet, so it's just a case of keeping our fingers crossed. At this stage it's 50-50 at best."

Captain Eoin Gormley, who kicked the equaliser, came through the match without exacerbating his hamstring problem but picked up a different leg injury. "He was caught by a stud on the calf, and that's causing him more concern than the hamstring," said his manager.

Harte is one of the five candidates from whom a new Tyrone manager will be chosen in the next few weeks. He is joined by outgoing joint-manager Eugene McKenna, Brian McIver and two unidentified candidates. Less than half of the county's 48 clubs submitted nominations to Tuesday night's board meeting. All nominations were for individuals, rather than management teams, as the county seeks to fill the vacancy left by the sudden departure of McKenna's co-manager Art McRory last month.

One of the three front-runners yesterday revealed his proposed backroom team. Derry club Ballinderry's All-Ireland winning manager McIver has already put together a three-man back-up unit. Carrickmore's Raymond Munroe, a former Tyrone defender, is joined by Roger Keenan of Gortin and Coalisland's Peter Bayne, an experienced club manager.

All of the candidates are from within the county so the two unknown candidates do not include Donegal's Martin McHugh who led Cavan to an Ulster title in 1997.