Delaney and Corbett cleared over 'technicality'

Kilkenny defender JJ Delaney and Tipperary forward Lar Corbett have been cleared to play for their respective counties in the opening round of the Senior Hurling Championship.

The pair were sent off for their roles in an ugly fracas during last Sunday's Allianz League Division 1 final at Nowlan Park which the Cats won on a 2-17 to 0-20 scoreline.

Delaney and Corbett were expected to receive one-match bans for their red cards, however a rulebook technicality - relating to rule 7.2 (b) of the GAA’s Official Guide - means that they will both serve a 'time-based suspension' of four weeks instead.

Their suspensions will last until midnight on Saturday, June 1.

That leaves Delaney eligible to line out for Kilkenny in their Leinster Championship opener against Offaly on Sunday, June 9 - the same day that Tipperary are due to face Limerick in the Munster Championship.

Corbett, like Delaney a former Hurler of the Year, suffered broken ribs during the Kilkenny game though and may not be fully recovered in time for the Munster semi-final against Limerick.

It has been claimed that Corbett and Delaney managed to receive time-based bans in the same way that Longford footballer Barry Gilleran is able to play in his county's upcoming Leinster Championship match against Wicklow.

Gilleran picked up a red card during Wicklow's final league outing against Louth on April 7, but Longford made a successful appeal of the proposed one-match ban.

Longford officials used a rulebook technicality, having taken their case to the Central Appeals Committee, to ensure that Gilleran received a time-based suspension rather than being banned for the team's next competitive fixture.

Last year a rule was put in place for the league and Championship that players would receive a one-match ban if they were sent-off during a competitive game.

The Central Council extended that ruling into the current season, however for Gilleran's case Longford successfully argued that the Central Council did not have the power to do so and that the rule had effectively expired at the end of the 2012 calendar year.

By the time the GAA's annual Congress retained the 2012 rule at their get-together in Derry in March, the Allianz League had already started - thus the 2012 rule does not relate to this year's league campaign and Gilleran's time-based ban of four weeks, which ran out last Saturday, leaves him free to play against Wicklow on Sunday, May 26.