Leinster Council fail to resolve subs' row

The row over whether Offaly made five or six substitutions during Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final clash with Kildare will rumble on.

The Leinster Council arranged a special meeting to discuss the matter tonight but failed to come to a decision.

Offaly won the match by 3-09 to 0-15 but controversy reigned in the aftermath at Croke Park. With only five substitutions permitted, the Faithfuls were seen to use six. The row centres over the use of James Coughlan as a blood substitution.

Offaly full forward Pascal Kellaghan was forced to go off for attention 15 minutes into the first half with Coughlan coming on. Kellaghan returned for the second half to replace Trevor Phelan - and not Coughlan.

As the Offaly management also made four other substitutions, it would appear that they made six in total, unless the Kellaghan-Coughlan-Phelan changes count as a single substitution.

The Leinster Games Administration Committee issued a statement tonight, following the meeting.

They said they will "seek an interpretation from Central Council on Rule 2.4 of the Rules of Specification and the Blood Rule."

Representatives from both Offaly and Kildare made submissions at the meeting.

A replay is a possibility, but should Kildare accept the result, the Leinster Council would still have the power to take action due to a new ruling brought in at this year's Congress.

In such a case, the Offaly County Board could be fined or have their team thrown out of the championship.

If the Council decide to strip Offaly of yesterday's victory, and Kildare have not appealed, then Wexford, Offaly's semi-final opponents, would move straight into the Leinster final.