Forde faces anxious wait

WEXFORD football star Mattie Forde will this week discover if he is to face a disciplinary charge arising from the controversial incident in the Leinster football semi-final against Offaly on Sunday week last.

Prominent in the qualifier victory over Monaghan on Saturday, his involvement in the third-round game against Fermanagh in Enniskillen next weekend could be in doubt over the alleged stamping incident at Croke Park.

This and other matters relating to players disciplined over the weekend will be investigated by the Central Disciplinary Committee tonight.

Chaired by ex-Ulster chairman John O’Reilly from Armagh, the committee has already received the referee’s report of the Wexford/Offaly game.

The normal procedure is that players are notified of a pending charge and given the option of seeking a personal hearing. The expectation is that there will be a hearing at the end of the week.

GAA President Nickey Brennan defended the time line of the process.

“The difficulty we have here is that, under rule, the referee has so long to send in his report, then we have to seek clarification from the referee and then the player has a number of days to respond to see does he want an oral hearing on the matter.

“So, as our rules stand at the moment, (last night) was the earliest we could have taken that on board. Perhaps that’s something we could look at but, right now, the committee in charge can only operate under the timelines laid down by the rules.”

Meanwhile, Cork footballer Anthony Lynch is facing the prospect of a month’s suspension following his red-card offence late in the first half of Sunday’s Munster football final against Kerry in Killarney.

This would rule him out of the fourth-round qualifier game on July 29 in the event of Cork losing next Sunday’s replay.

And, Kerry midfielder Kieran Donaghy seems certain to miss next weekend’s replay. Sent off at the three-quarters stage in Fitzgerald Stadium on Sunday for a second yellow-card offence, he was similarly disciplined in Kerry’s League game against Tyrone in Omagh on March 26.

Players who incur double yellow-cards on two separate occasions in the same playing year are liable to be suspended for two weeks.