Bailey upbeat on split

Dublin County Board chairman John Bailey remains confident of agreeing a compromise with the GAA's Strategic Review Committee (SRC), whose report earlier this year called for a controversial split in the county for football purposes.

The SRC made a presentation to the Dublin County Board meeting on Tuesday night, which was described by Bailey as "very positive". While Bailey was clear that Dublin remains totally against any split in the county football and the county board, Dublin were open to further discussions with the SRC.

"There were critical views expressed from both sides," he said. "We hope to have more negotiations over the next couple of months, but we want these discussions completed by August, ahead of the Special Congress in October".

Meanwhile, it was confirmed yesterday that Galway midfielder Kevin Walsh will not be sanctioned further for the foul on his Mayo opponent during last Sunday's Connacht football semi-final at Castlebar.

Walsh was seen to punch Brady early in the second half, shortly after the Mayo player had been drafted in for David Heaney. Cork referee Niall Barrett only issued a yellow card though there was some expectancy the GAA's Games Administration Committee would look further into the incident. Under GAA rules, since Barrett did deal with the incident at the time, the GAC can't precede with further disciplinary action.