TOMÁS Ó SÉ appears to be the only high-profile casualty from the weekend’s football and hurling action as the Kerry county board confirmed a four-week, and automatic one match, suspension.
The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) handed out the sanction for a Category 2 offence (striking with the elbow) after referee Pat Fox reviewed Ó Sés collision with Limerick’s Stephen Kelly in the Munster football final last Sunday in Killarney. Ó Sé accepted the ban and, therefore, will not seek a personal hearing.
It now means two of Kerry’s most influential players from the past decade are unavailable for the All-Ireland quarter-final.
“We’re disappointed we have to play without Tomás and Paul Galvin in a quarter-final but at least we have a months notice to prepare,” said Kerry chairman Jerome Conway. “If you commit the foul you must do the time. I believe it was quite conclusive that Tomás hit with the elbow.
“We’ll see if other fellas can step up to the plate. We have other options and the management will be checking them out over the next few weeks.”
It is a deeply troubling scenario for Kerry manager Jack O’Connor who has now lost six of the side that started last year’s All-Ireland final against Cork.
Goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy and Darragh Ó Sé have retired, while Tadhg Kennelly and Tommy Walsh took up Australian Rules contracts.
Aidan O’Mahony and Pádraig Reidy are the obvious defensive alternatives but neither is a natural wing back although O’Mahony has played there several times for Kerry.
Only the full-back line has been untouched by the exodus where Marc Ó Sé, Tommy Griffin and Tom O’Sullivan remain.
No other incidents from the weekend have led to suspensions as yet.
This includes an alleged stamp by Sligo veteran Eamonn O’Hara on Galway’s Eoin Concannon in the Connacht football semi-final.
The Sligo County Board had not received any correspondence from the CCCC by yesterday evening. Neither had Kilkenny or Wexford arising from various flashpoints in the Leinster hurling final and the latter’s qualifier defeat to Tipperary.
Meanwhile, GAA President Christy Cooney indicated yesterday that time bans are due to be replaced by match suspensions.
There has been widespread consternation within the association regarding the unfairness of certain players missing several games and others just a single match depending on when they commit an act of indiscipline.
The case of Offaly hurler Daniel Currams is the most recent example of someone missing three matches for a four-week ban in contrast to Ó Sé, who will only sit out one game.
“You’ll notice that there was a motion last year at congress on that and I asked that it would be withdrawn because we were working currently on one to make it broader and cover all the angles, not only at intercounty level but also club level so we will have that before Cóiste Banaistí (GAA’s management committee) in the next two months and then after that the central council and a the motion ready for congress next year.”
Cooney also stated the number of fixtures televised live on RTÉ and TV3 will not be increased and may even be reduced if there is sufficient proof that average attendance figures are decreasing because of the coverage.
“We’re at a situation now where we’re going to be reviewing our contracts. Look, of course there are concerns expressed that maybe we have 50 games this year on live TV and that’s an area we’ll look at.
“Will we reduce it? I think it’ll be part of discussions that we’ll have with the TV stations and what’s appropriate for us to show and what they need to show as we agree a contract moving forward.
“And it’s always something that we would look at, do we have too many or too little.We’re unlikely to increase it anyway, let’s be honest, but we will review the games being shown on TV. But it has a lot of advantages and it promotes our game in a significant way for people who are not in the position to get to matches.”
DEATH OF BIDDY PHILLIPS
Biddy Phillips, national camogie referee and administrator, died yesterday.
She was manager of the 1999 Tipperary camogie team that brought the O’Duffy Cup to Tipp for the first time and refereed the All-Ireland senior camogie final in 1997 as well as intermediate, junior and senior club All-Irelands between 1993 and 1999.
