Barry has personal hearing with GAC this evening

Kildare midfielder Alan Barry will receive a personal hearing from The Games Administration Committee (GAC) this evening regarding the two-week suspension he received after being sent off in the Leinster football final against Laois last Sunday.

Barry was dismissed after just four minutes for two bookable offences and received the mandatory ban as it was a repeat offence within the stipulated time-frame - he was also sent off for two yellow cards against Sligo in the National League.

Video evidence of Sunday's second yellow card incident, a challenge on Laois centre-back Tom Kelly, has been presented to the GAC. If the ban is upheld Barry will miss tomorrow's fourth-round qualifier against Roscommon in Portlaoise and potentially the quarter-finals the following weekend, if Kildare progress.

In hurling, the chances of last year's Kilkenny captain Andy Comerford making a return to the panel for the All-Ireland semi-finals on August 17th received a serious blow when he was sent off in a club match on Wednesday evening.

Comerford was shown a straight red card near the end of the league semi-final as his club O'Loughlin Gaels were defeated 1-12 to 0-11 by Graigue-Ballycallan.

The player is likely to face a minimum four-week suspension which will severely hinder his chances of returning to full fitness in time to feature in Brian Cody's plans.

Kilkenny hurling received a further blow in the other semi-final, between Young Irelands and Shamrocks, as current captain DJ Carey hobbled off the field after just two minutes of play with a damaged calf muscle. However, Kilkenny County Board secretary Pat Dunphy said the initial prognosis of the injury is not too serious.

Elsewhere, The Task Force established by GAA president Seán Kelly to consider how the organisation might positively contribute to reducing alcohol and substance abuse in Irish society met for the first time on Wednesday.

The members of the committee are former Galway hurler Joe Connolly, Michael Whelan of Guinness, Donegal County Board secretary Noreen Doherty, Timothy Maher, the primary schools' representative on Central Council, John Lonergan, governor of Mountjoy Prison, Colm Jordan the former president of the Union of Students of Ireland and DJ Carey.

Kelly hopes the committee will be able to "make a substantial contribution in terms of the broader issue" of alcohol abuse. They expect to produce a report by the spring.

Meanwhile, Limerick County Board chairman Pat Fitzgerald has criticised what he describes as an orchestrated campaign to undermine the Limerick senior hurling team and its manager Dave Keane.

Commentating on widespread allegations that Keane had "lost his dressing-room", Fitzgerald said people outside the team had their own agenda and were running to the media in an attempt to stir up trouble.

"A lot of public sniping has been going on with a spate of rumour and innuendo," he said.

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of knockers in our midst. I would appeal to these people to stop and think of the harm they are doing. We know the sources - now we must stamp them out."

The county board officers, he continued, were concerned at allegations of unhappiness in the dressing-room and lack of discipline in the squad, which did not help the image of Limerick GAA.

A lot of what had been said and published, he claimed, was simply not true.

Fitzgerald confirmed that a meeting was being arranged between county board officers, team management and players representatives at which all would be invited to air their views.