The Games Administration Committee (GAC) are hopeful of resolving the matter of who knocked out three of Finbar Cullen's teeth when the Offaly centre back was struck in an off-the-ball incident during the league match with Dublin in Parnell Park nine days ago.

The GAC secretary, Sean O Laoire, said the committee is gathering evidence. "Dublin have a video, and although the referee's report is inconclusive, it did give us one bit of information. But we'll be keeping our powder dry until we've considered the evidence.

"It would be the wish of GAC to have it concluded. There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to deal with it, and quickly," he said.

Sources in the Dublin county board say that, whereas they have a video of the match, no formal request has been made for its release to Croke Park. Offaly did not arrange for the match to be recorded.

In Offaly, the county is sticking to its policy of not discussing the matter in public until the referee's report is made public after the next meeting of the GAC (next week). County secretary Christy Todd said that Offaly would be waiting for the GAC deliberations to take their course, although he strongly believes that the matter should be handled centrally.

"It's not a case of putting the burden on the GAC," he explained. "They should take action themselves and not wait for a county or somebody else to do something about it."

There is precedent for witness evidence being taken into account by the GAC and, in those circumstances, it looks likely that the culprit will be brought to book at some stage.

As for the victim: reports that Cullen could be available for selection for next weekend's visit to Tullamore of All-Ireland champions Kerry seem overly optimistic. The player is due to see a specialist on Thursday and hasn't even returned to work yet.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, yesterday's deadline for nominations for the vacant position of county manager has passed, although the county's management committee will be allowed to add to the club nominations should they see fit.

One name that has caused surprise is that of Dom Twomey, who was a selector with the Kilmacud Crokes team which won the All-Ireland two years ago under the management of Tommy Lyons, who is now in charge of Offaly where Twomey has been one of his close advisers.

In yesterday's Irish In- dependent, Lyons refers to Twomey as the person with most influence over his career. There is considerable surprise at his nomination, as Lyons is said to have been caught unawares and knew nothing of the move until it had happened.

Twomey was involved in another controversial episode last March when he was a selector on the Dublin under21 team which gained notoriety in its match with Offaly, in consequence of which both counties were suspended from the 1998 championship. It was a matter of embarrassment for Lyons that the man brought in by him to help with Offaly had accepted a role with Dublin's under-21s - a situation exacerbated by the fracas in the championship.

A number of the names on the Dublin shortlist proposed appear to have no chance of appointment and are unlikely to have their prospects progressed much further. Of the others, retired goalkeeper John O'Leary is an acknowledged front-runner, and former All-Ireland winning minor manager Alan Larkin has also been mentioned.

Declan Douglas, of Thomas Davis, has also been nominated, and his name has never been far from speculation every time the job becomes available after his success with the club in the early 1990s when he took Davis' to two Leinster titles and an All-Ireland final.

Derry's Joe Brolly will be out of action for a couple of weeks and will miss the county's remaining league fixtures before Christmas. He sustained the injury playing for Dungiven in Sunday's Ulster club final against Errigal Ciaran.

Brolly endured a trying afternoon and was, by most accounts, on the receiving end of several over-physical challenges, one of which left him greatly impaired until he was substituted in the 47th minute.

"Joe suffered ligament damage to his ankles," according to Dungiven secretary Seamus Mullan. "It will keep him out for a while, but we're confident he'll be ready for the All-Ireland semi-final, which isn't until February. "It was a bad challenge alright. Actually a bad pass as well, which Joe was a little slow in taking. But he was taken out, it was not accidental."

According to Mullan, Brolly wasn't the only player being repaired in the aftermath of the match. "Cathal Grieve received 11 stitches in his mouth, eight on the outside and three on the inside. This was after an incident when the linesman said he was feigning injury.

Nonetheless, he felt the match had stayed largely within acceptable limits. "It was typical Tyrone-Derry rivalry, but never threatened to blow up into a fracas."

Despite the controversy caused by the rough exchanges in the first half and the injuries to Brolly and Grieve, Sunday was a great milestone for Dungiven, who were notching up their first Ulster title.

"Any time you win a first title at any level makes it a great day for the club," says Mullan. "Our first county title was in 1947 and we celebrated the 50th anniversary of that a few months back. This year's county championship came totally out of the blue. We should have been knocked out in the first round by Glenullin.

"We're also working on a quarter-of-a-million pounds renovation at the club, so Sunday's win was timely, a great boost to morale."