Walsh’s Wicklow transfer on hold as council probes saga

THE Leinster Council is to investigate the controversial transfer of Thomas Walsh from Carlow to Wicklow.

Carlow officials have asked the provincial body to satisfy itself that Rule 39 (on permanent residence) is fully complied with in the case of the transfer application by Walsh from Fenagh in Carlow to Bray Emmetts.

Following the request, the Leinster Competitions Control Committee has convened a meeting of all interested parties for Tuesday night in Portlaoise. The council said that Walsh may not play with Bray until the outcome of the meeting is made public.

Wicklow manager Mick O’Dwyer insisted last night that Walsh was not part of his plans anyway for tomorrow’s league game against Wexford in Aughrim — though he is listed amongst the substitutes.

“However he is training away with us and is going quite well,” revealed O’Dwyer. “The meeting on Tuesday night is one for the county board to deal with. My concerns begin and end with the football side of things.”

Wicklow will be without eight of the team that beat Wexford 0-7 to 0-5 in the O’Byrne Cup in January, including star full forward Paul Earls, who scored 0-5 that day.

Carlow PRO Tom Murphy explained the reasoning for their decision. “We have no objection to the transfer but we just want to clear up where he is living. It would not be a nice thing to hear in two or three weeks that he was still living in somewhere like Dublin and playing with Wicklow. That is something that could become an issue for other counties.”

Meanwhile GAA PRO Danny Lynch has accepted the association may need to examine its disciplinary procedures after Billy Morgan’s Central Hearing Committee hearing was postponed this week.

The Cork football manager was handed an eight-week suspension by the Competitions Control Committee but opted to appeal after being reported by referee Syl Doyle for remarks made after his side’s opening round NFL defeat against Donegal.

Due to be heard on Thursday night, the hearing could not proceed as Morgan was out of the country and did not receive notification of the meeting, until after he had departed.

Hearings committee chairman John Reilly added: “You have to give him benefit of the doubt. But you certainly would not want to see this becoming a regular occurrence. We will ask him in again. We may have a meeting next week, if not it will take place the week after.”

WICKLOW (SF v Wexford): R. Daniels, C. Hyland, D. O hAnnaidh, A. Byrne, M. McLoughlin, D. Power, L. Glynn, J. Stafford, B. O’Donovan, R. Finn, J. Slattery, JP Dalton, T. Gill, K. Byrne, T. Hannon.

MAYO (SF v Limerick): K O’Malley; L O’Malley, J Kilcullen, K Higgins; E Devenney, BJ Padden, P Gardiner; R McGarrity, D Brady; K O’Neill, G Brady, A Dillon; A Campbell, T Mortimer, A Moran.

DONEGAL (SF v Dublin): P Durcan; N McGee, P Campbell, K Lacey; P McConigley B Monaghan, B Dunnion; N Gallagher, K Cassidy; R Kavanagh, B Roper, J McLoone; C McFadden, B Devenney, C Bonner.

CLARE (SF v Roscommon): J Hayes; L Healy, C Whelan, G Kelly; G Lyons, D Kelly, N Considine; David Russell, G Quinlan; J Hayes, Denis Russell, E Coughlan; D Mologhan, G Brennan, R Donnelly.