Masterson will issue apology

GAA:WEXFORD GOALKEEPER Anthony Masterson will be apologising for his critical remarks about Longford referee Derek Fahy after the controversial defeat by Limerick in the All-Ireland qualifiers two weeks ago.

Masterson faced the prospect of an eight-week suspension unless he complied with the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee order that he issue a written apology, and speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, the former All Star nominee confirmed his intentions to.

“What was said was in the heat of the moment and after a great disappointment,” he said. “I haven’t sent in the letter of apology yet but will be doing so over the next few days.”

Masterson’s comments were made in a radio interview afterwards, when he described as “mind-baffling” the decision of the match official who allowed the controversial late point that enabled Limerick to beat Wexford. He added that he didn’t want to comment any further on the matter at this stage.

Meanwhile the Australian Football League (AFL) has issued a statement on the apparent threat over this autumn’s International Rules series due to a pay dispute.

It read: “We have been in discussions with our player group for some months now to finalise the next term of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with our players, which covers their wages, conditions etc. The current CBA, which has run for five years, expires at the end of this year.

“We are not yet at agreement and have been some ways apart at points, and a little closer at other times, but still don’t have a formalised new agreement as we come to the latter part of our statement.

“At no stage have the players talked about any explicit plans to boycott particular matches or events. That said, there have been media reports the players may consider things such as not attending the Brownlow Medal, not playing in the pre-season competition or not playing in the International Rules, but this has not been said at any time by the AFL players association leadership or the senior players on the AFL players association executive”.

Croke Park is anticipating a crowd of “over 50,000” for Saturday evening’s All-Ireland football quarter-final between Dublin and Tyrone. A crowd of 62,749 showed up for the similar fixture last year – which saw Dublin win 1-15 to 0-13 – although that was actually a double bill, and also featured Down’s six-point win over Kerry. Tickets for Saturday’s game are priced at stand €30, terrace €20, and family tickets €30/children €5 each.

Dublin will have an added incentive to beat Tyrone on Saturday in that the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final date against Donegal on August 28th will feature the Dublin minors take on Galway in their semi-final. The other minor football semi-final between Roscommon and Tipperary will be played as the curtain-raiser to the Kerry-Mayo senior semi-final on August 21st.

Finally, the GAA won’t be making any further attempt to resolve the stand-off between RTÉ and Tyrone manager Mickey Harte – who once again made himself unavailable for interview after last Saturday’s win over Roscommon.

“It’s not up to us,” said GAA communications manger Alan Milton. “Attempts were made to bring the two together, but managers or players aren’t under any contract, or aren’t obliged to talk.”