Munster final ban looms for Ó Sé

FOOTBALLER of the year Tomás Ó Sé faces the threat of missing the Munster SFC final against Cork on July 10.

The Kerry star has been charged by the newly established Central Disciplinary Committee arising out of an incident in last Sunday’s semi-final against Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds.

He faces a month’s suspension if the Committee rules against him.

Ó Sé, who is expected to seek a personal hearing, was implicated in an incident just before half-time which was highlighted on television.

He is alleged to have hit out at a Limerick player as he returned to his position after having kicked a ball wide. The suspicion at the time was that the Limerick player taunted him.

Limerick defender Stephen Lavin remonstrated with Ó Sé by pushing him and was promptly yellow-carded by the referee. The indications yesterday were that the Allstar will attend the next meeting of the Committee to answer the charge.

In the meantime, Kerry officials have expressed annoyance at the turn of events, with one County Board source describing it as “trial by media.”

That was after one of the RTÉ analysts stated in The Sunday Game programme that Ó Sé should have been red-carded.

Meanwhile one of the country’s leading referees has welcomed the overturning of red cards handed out to Francie Bellew and Adrian Sweeney - but he said players who escape punishment should also be open to boardroom review. Pat McEnaney, who has refereed four All-Ireland senior finals, said he had “no problem with Francie Bellew and Adrian Sweeney having their cards overturned - it was the right thing to do.”

The duo, who had their cases heard at a meeting of the GAA’s Central Disciplinary Committee on Wednesday night, were facing one-month suspensions but were cleared of the charges in relation to last weekend’s hot-tempered clash between Armagh and Donegal.

But McEnaney said the disciplinary committee should also be prepared to look at cases where players didn’t get yellow cards when they deserved them. “I think it’s only fair that this should happen. If a player deserves a Red card, but gets a yellow card or no punishment at all, I think the Central Disciplinary Committee should look at that too,” he said.