DRA clears way for Offaly to continue Championship push

The Disputes Resolution Authority has cleared the way for Offaly footballers to finally take their place in the semi-final of the Leinster SFC.

The DRA saw no reason to contradict the ruling of the Leinster Council and the Central Appeals Committee regarding their win over Kildare.

The decision was made after a marathon meeting in Portlaoise which went into the early hours of this morning.

Kildare have issued a statement saying that they will not be pursuing the matter any further but would put forward a motion to Congress to clarify the issue of blood substitutions.

It had been feared that they may take the case to the high court.

Kildare had argued that Offaly had made six substitutions, thereby breaking the rules, during their win over Kildare on May 28 and were seeking for the game to be replayed.

The controversy surrounded the blood substitution of Pascal Kellaghan who was replaced in the first half by James Coughlan.

When Kellaghan re-emerged for action at half-time, he replaced Trevor Phelan rather than Coughlan.

Offaly also made a further four substitutions over the course of the game, culminating in James Keane's introduction in the 70th minute.

Offaly argued though that the Kellaghan - Coughlan - Phelan axis served as one substitution and that they had not broken any rules.

Kildare's case was that once Kellaghan was introduced for Phelan, his earlier replacement then became a permanent substitution.

The DRA ruled that the introduction of Coughlan for Kellaghan was not an act of substitution.

Offaly will now face Wexford in the Leinster semi-final on July 2, while Kildare will play Cavan in the qualifiers on Saturday week.