CAC to rule on Galvin today

THE OUTCOME of Paul Galvin's appeal against his six-month suspension will be known later today. The Central Appeals Committee (CAC) heard the Kerry captain's case last night along with that of Monaghan's Paul Finlay, who is also facing suspension for abusive conduct towards match officials, although his suspension was set at eight weeks for verbal abuse of Longford referee Derek Fahy.

Galvin's suspension, which stands to wipe out his season, can be taken to the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA), the GAA's independent arbitration tribunal, should today's announcement confirm the decision of the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) earlier this week.

Finlay, if unsuccessful, will miss Monaghan's first-round qualifier on July 19th.

Another high-profile personality who may be heading for the appeals forum is Down assistant manager DJ Kane, who has been handed a six-month suspension by the CHC for defying a previous ban during the county's recent replay victory over champions Tyrone.

If the appeals process fails, Kane will have to sit out the remainder of the season in the stands.

In the meantime at next weekend's Ulster semi-final against Armagh, Down manager Ross Carr will be able to patrol the sideline and enter the team dressingroom, as he was granted by the DRA's temporary suspension of a ban pending a full hearing.

There is no word when that hearing will take place but the terms of the interim decision were that it should happen as quickly as possible. Should that not be successful Down could end up with both manager and assistant manager in the stands as the season unfolds.

The coming weekend promises to bring some relief for the GAA in the matter of attendances, with the two provincial semi-finals in Ulster and Leinster set to attract over 100,000 spectators.

According to Croke Park the projected crowd for Sunday's Dublin-Westmeath is in excess of 70,000.

This would be a boost for the Leinster Council and significantly bigger than the 60,285 that attended the Leinster quarter-final between the counties four years ago when the match formed part of a double bill with Wexford-Kildare.

A year ago Dublin's semi-final with Offaly drew 77,623.

In Ulster, provincial secretary Danny Murphy confidently expects the Armagh-Down semi-final to sell out before Sunday, with only a handful of terrace tickets remaining for the Clones fixture.

"We've set the capacity at 33,000," according to Murphy. "There's been huge interest in the championship so far and I'm fairly certain that the allocation will be gone on Saturday."

This year's final has also been confirmed for Clones, where this weekend's winners will face Fermanagh.