GAELIC GAMES: Tyrone manager Mickey Harte expressed his delight yesterday after the eight-week suspensions of Kevin Hughes, Michael McGee and Owen Mulligan were overturned by the GAA's Central Appeals Committee (CAC) on a technicality. Dublin's Ciarán Whelan, Kevin Bonner and Alan Brogan, and Bryan Cullen who received a four-week ban, also saw their appeals upheld.

"I'm delighted for the players because there was a lot of adverse press and innuendo directed towards them individually and Tyrone collectively," said Harte. "I think it was sometimes a little bit excessive so I'm happy for those players that they're not in the category that some would have portrayed them to be in."

The CAC decision exposes GAA disciplinary structures to further ridicule as player suspensions handed down by the Central Disciplinary Committee (CDC) after the violent scenes that marred the National League encounter at Healy Park, Omagh on February 5th now go largely unpunished.

A terse statement from the GAA said: "The GAA have confirmed that the appeals on behalf of Dublin and Tyrone players heard by the Central Appeals Committee last night have been upheld. The suspensions initially imposed will no longer apply."

Neither the CAC nor GAA would confirm yesterday which technicality had led to the suspensions being quashed but a rule relating to video evidence is widely believed to be the cause.

The initial CDC three-man sub-committee of Gerry Mahon (Leitrim), Bob Honohan (Cork) and Billy Lenihan (Limerick) examined the video evidence of the game and made the subsequent charges. They were then called to the main disciplinary hearing to clarify a number of issues. Their involvement here was deemed a breach in procedure.

The Tyrone players' case to CAC stated the letter written by referee Paddy Russell should exonerate them from the suspensions. The letter stated: "I confirm that I did not see, nor did any of my match officials report to me, any incidents that would have involved me deciding to take or not to take disciplinary action involving the following players, other than what I reported in my official match report."

This letter was requested by the CDC to avoid a loophole used last year in the case of another Tyrone player, Ryan McMenamin, when the actions of the referee in showing a yellow card were deemed, by the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA), as the only punishment allowed.

The precise reason for the appeals being upheld will only become public knowledge if the CAC report to the GAA's Management Committee is released.

Three weeks of the players' suspensions have already been served but the Dublin players missed just one league fixture. The Tyrone players were absent only for the McKenna Cup final on February 26th as last week's game against Cork was postponed.

GAA president Seán Kelly admitted yesterday that motions to next month's annual congress to tighten up the disciplinary procedures are not a guaranteed solution to the confusion that currently exists.

"I'd like to say they are but I would have been confident that the CDC, a body with very experienced people, would have covered all angles, and they tried to cover all angles. It just shows how complicated all these matters are at this point in time.

"Maybe they've made it too complicated for volunteer officials to handle it all but sure we even have solicitors on that committee and they still can't get it right. It's difficult to know.

"Once we get the report from the appeals committee and rectify the loophole, as we are doing with the decisions of DRA, then we will be gradually moving towards a situation where all these loopholes will be closed off.

"In the meantime, players are getting off on technicalities, which is not satisfactory but at the same time, looking on the bright side, we know where the mistake was made and we will be able to rectify it. Hopefully.

"They (disciplinary structures) are working out in a way we didn't really envisage. Everybody now is challenging everything. It would be preferable if, like those in other codes, people just accept it when they are suspended. But in the GAA they don't."

The chairman of the CDC, Con Hogan, also released a statement yesterday in reaction to the CAC decision. "The committee (CDC) was obviously very disappointed. We felt we had used due process. We were very careful to protect the players' rights and we feel we reached a fair and balanced decision in all the circumstances. We operated within the rules as we found them and also within the constraints of the DRA decisions. If there is a technical deficiency within the rules, so be it. That is a matter for the association to deal with."

Despite all seven players being available for selection this weekend, Harte and Dublin manager Paul Caffrey said they would be on the substitutes' bench. Dublin play Cork in Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night and Tyrone play Offaly in Tullamore on Sunday.