On-going dispute puts Dublin hurlers on hold

DUBLIN’s Leinster SHC campaign won’t start for another week as their opening match, a quarter-final clash with either Westmeath or Kildare, has been postponed by the provincial council.

The on-going controversy over the number of subs Westmeath used in their recent mauling of Kildare means that the capital side won’t know the identity of their opponents until Saturday at the earliest The Leinster council confirmed yesterday that an investigation committee will discuss the incident on Friday evening, with the GAC meeting the following afternoon to reach a decision. Kildare manager Morgan Lawlor has called for the Leinster council to order a replay between his team and Westmeath, saying he does not want Tom Ryan’s side thrown out of the competition, but the integrity of the rule-book must be upheld.

However, Westmeath officials remain adamant that the error was made by the fourth official who ratified their sixth substitution. The Westmeath county board had already asked the fourth official how many subs they had made.

Meanwhile, Offaly are unlikely to seek a replay of Sunday’s Leinster SFC championship one-point defeat to Westmeath after it was claimed that the winners’ fifth point was actually wide.

Many spectators at the game were astonished when Brian Morley’s first half effort was signalled as good by the umpires. However, the matter was not raised in the aftermath of the game.

Leinster Council secretary Michael Delaney said he had heard nothing about the possibility of Offaly lodging a complaint, adding: “There hasn’t been a word about it and I don’t think there will be.”

Offaly chairman Tommy Byrne said he wasn’t aware of any plans to raise the issue. “We have an executive meeting on Tuesday night, but it mightn’t even come up. At the moment I haven’t heard anything about it.”

Meanwhile, Westmeath will wait for the referee’s report before deciding on what course of action to take over Rory O’Connell’s sending off.