Let-offs for Corbett and Delaney

Croke Park officials have been left red-faced after Tipperary forward Lar Corbett and Kilkenny defender JJ Delaney were cleared to line out in the first round of their respective provincial championships.

A rule book technicality means Corbett can play against Limerick on June 9 in the Munster SHC semi-final – with Delaney also eligible for Kilkenny’s Leinster SHC quarter-final clash against Offaly in Tullamore on the same day. Corbett and Delaney, both former hurlers of the year, were sent off in Sunday’s Allianz National Hurling League Division 1 final at Nowlan Park following a second half goalmouth fracas – and four-week time-based suspensions have been imposed. It had been thought the pair would each receive one-match bans, to extend from the league into the first round of the championship, but a recent case involving Longford defender Barry Gilleran appears to have cleared them.

Gilleran is free to play against Wicklow in the first round of the Leinster SFC – despite being red-carded in the Garden County’s final League game of the season against Louth on April 7.