Westmeath fate in balance

Officials of the Leinster Council were last night again left undecided about the possible disqualification of the Westmeath senior hurling team from the provincial championship, the result of the apparently illegal use of substitutes in their win over Kildare last Sunday week.

It means the team to play Dublin in the quarter-final in Newbridge this Sunday also remains undecided, and a postponement of that game was at least confirmed.

Last night's meeting listened again to Westmeath's explanation of the matter, and it was argued that proper procedure might not have been followed in the Leinster Council's investigation. As a result, the Leinster Council announced they would go back and examine the facts before reaching their final ruling, which at this point still appears inevitable.

The initial investigation was conducted by the Leinster Council last Thursday night and concluded Westmeath had a case to answer under GAA rule 109, which refers to the use of substitutes. It was recorded by the match officials that Westmeath used six replacements in total - one more than the legal five - and none of those could have been passed off as temporary replacements, or blood substitutes.

The game took place on Westmeath's home pitch in Mullingar, and six substitutes were listed in newspaper match reports.

Part of the confusion appeared to stem from the fact Westmeath were cruising to victory, eventually winning by 12 points - 1-18 to 1-6. In their initial defence the Westmeath officials claimed that one of their substitutes, Christy Murtagh, was a blood replacement and the fourth official had cleared his introduction accordingly.

Hope was then given to the Westmeath county board in that only five substitutes were recorded by the referee. And up to last year no more than 20 players, including blood replacements, could be used in a game whatever the circumstances.

That was revised to 21, meaning that six replacements were allowed, as long as the sixth replacement was officially declared as a blood replacement.

Under GAA rules, however, the county management is ultimately responsible for keeping tabs on the number of substitutes used in a game, championship or otherwise. The penalty for such an infringement is automatic forfeiture of the game, and there is no provision for a refixture.

And perhaps most significant from a Westmeath perspective, only the losers of the Leinster quarter-final stages have the All-Ireland qualifier route to fall back on after their championship exit.

Westmeath had made significant progression this past year under new manager Tom Ryan, going unbeaten in division two of the league before that final to Down. And they obviously fancy their chances too against Dublin, who would look forward to the Kildare match with significantly less anticipation.

The other Leinster quarter-final, incidentally, takes place this Saturday with the meeting of Laois and Offaly in Tullamore, a game generally deemed far more evenly balanced than a Dublin-Kildare clash.