Galway did not breach rules on substitutes in Mayo win

Galway’s use of Thomas Flynn to replace Peter Cooke in the Connacht quarter-final win over Mayo on Sunday did not breach a substitute rule.

The blood substitute loophole has been exploited by teams for several years, allowing teams to make permanent replacements without them constituting official substitutes as there is no time limit.

Galway’s alterations in Castlebar were more unusual as their seventh substitute involved replacing black-carded Cooke. It was Cooke who came on for Paul Conroy in the first half after he suffered a facial injury following Diarmuid O’Connor’s hit, which saw the Mayo forward dismissed. However, Cooke wasn’t considered a permanent replacement.