Tribesmen chiefs probe player altercation with board official

GALWAY GAA chiefs have launched an investigation into an alleged incident involving a county hurling board official and a member of the senior management team during last week’s Leinster SHC semi-final loss to Kilkenny.

Officials remained tight lipped on the matter but sources last night revealed that the county board discussed the incident – which is alleged to have occurred in the second half of the game at O’Connor Park, Tullamore – at a meeting on Thursday.

Their findings are expected to be known next week.

Management and players refused to comment on the matter when contacted yesterday.

Meanwhile Monaghan and Derry will not have to pay fines of €10,000 proposed in the wake of their ill-tempered Ulster SFC quarter-final last month.

The GAA’s Central Hearings Committee have ruled that the charge lain against both counties by the Central Competitions Control Committee of ‘Disruptive Conduct by Players (not causing the Premature Termination of a Game)’ was not proven and that the fines were rescinded.

Derry secretary Liam Peoples last night welcomed the news. “We are very happy with the result. In the current economic climate, €10,000 is not a pleasant figure to try an raise. It would have been forced to go to 40 clubs in the county and ask them for €250 each. We believe that there are other ways to punish a team or a county rather than huge fines for county boards. Part of our argument was we were very strong in support of the new rules used during the leagues. We felt those new rules would have stopped incidents like this occurring.”