Rigney suspension major blow for Laois

Laois hurling has suffered a major setback ahead of their Leinster championship clash with Wexford with news yesterday that Niall Rigney had been handed an eight-week suspension by the GAA's Games Administration Committee.

Rigney was red-carded and subsequently reported for an off-the-ball incident in the Leinster championship preliminary round win over Carlow on April 29th and the suspension rules him out of the meeting with Wexford in Croke Park on June 10th.

He had been holding out some hope that his suspension would be limited to four weeks, but the GAC have once again taken their hard line on disciplinary matters.

The experienced Portlaoise half back made a personal appearance before the GAC on Wednesday evening explaining his involvement in the incident which occurred midway through the second half of the game with Carlow. Rigney had just failed to convert a Laois penalty and was making his was back to his position when he became entangled with Carlow centre back Martin Farrell.

Armagh referee Gerry Devlin was made aware of the incident by his linesman and it resulted in Rigney getting a straight red card.

Laois eventually won 2-17 to 14 and last weekend earned the right to play Wexford in Croke Park after beating Dublin by a single point thanks to a late goal by Paul Cuddy.

"I am truly disappointed and it is very hard to take," said Rigney "Of all the disappointments I've suffered on and off the field, I don't think anything could compare with this.

"I felt the hearing went fairly and there seemed to be a positive atmosphere. But I am very serious about discipline and this was the first time I was sent off in my 13 years playing with Laois. Perhaps I built up my hopes too much, because I honestly expected I would be playing against Wexford."

Also receiving word of suspension yesterday was Westmeath hurler Barry Kennedy, who was suspended for 12 weeks as a result of an incident in the National Hurling League game against Carlow on May 5th.

The GAC has also released details yesterday of the criteria for designating which counties will be given home venues when the draws are made for the first and second rounds of the new All-Ireland football qualifiers.

Counties will be designated as qualifying for home venue if they meet the following criteria: They did not play in Division One of the 2000/2001 National Football League, they did not qualify to play in Division One of the next year's league, and they did not win a senior provincial football title in the last three years.

On that basis, 10 counties are set to be designated home draws if they are in the first or second rounds of the All-Ireland qualifier - Antrim, Carlow, Leitrim, Waterford, Longford, Monaghan, Wexford, Wicklow and Tipperary.

If a county does not have a ground capable of hosting its game on a non all-ticket basis then the game will be fixed for a neutral venue in a neighbouring county.

The draw for the first round of the qualifiers will be made on the evening of June 3rd - and the games will take place the following Saturday June 9th (with the exception of the game involving Monaghan or Fermanagh as their second round game in Ulster doesn't take place until June 10th).

So far the counties going into the first-round qualifiers are Wexford, Louth and Wicklow from Leinster, Tipperary and Waterford from Munster, Donegal and Armagh from Ulster, and Leitrim from Connacht. They will be joined by either seven or eight more counties, depending on what happens to London.

The final decision regarding their participation in the qualifier group will be determined by the GAA's management committee and their meeting this weekend. Meanwhile, provincial finals have been organised in this summer's Kick Fada competition, with the All-Ireland final to be held in Bray on September 15th.

Scotstown (Ulster), Round Towers (Kildare), St Mary's (Carrick-on-Shannon) and Kilmihill (Clare) have agreed to be hosts.