THE long-running saga of the players suspended for playing football in New York without authorisation looks set to conclude tomorrow week when the GAA's Central Council will hear and pass judgment on the proposals of the Mercy Committee or, to give its proper title, Reinstatements Committee.

At this stage a total of 31 players have been suspended. The best-known of them were dealt with on January 8th, the date by which county boards had been asked to submit the names of any players who might be in need of "regularisation".

A further trickle of mostly non-county footballers was received after that date and they recently received suspensions, largely for the six-month period that is obligatory for the offence. Joe Coyle of Monaghan was the best-known of the second wave. He had played in New York while authorised only for the North American Board area.

Sympathy for the plight of all players has been aroused largely on the grounds that they are not uniquely lawless in this regard, merely unfortunate that they happened to be in the frame when the matter came into focus last November. The Kerry players are felt to have been particularly deserving of a commuted sentence as they surrendered themselves to the authorities and triggered off the whole investigation.

Most players, not having played since November, have served half their six-month suspensions which took effect from the last time they played.

There had been conjecture that after a mellow pre-Christmas Central Council meeting, the Kerry players might have been excused altogether but the significant number of other offenders militated against absolute leniency and the Games Administration Committee handed down the suspensions last month.

The procedure to be followed now is that the Mercy Committee which usually meets at Congress, will be convened in advance, probably by the Management Committee which runs the GAA between Central Council meetings.

The appointed committee typically constituted of senior figures such as provincial officers and trustees of the association - can only deal with cases recommended to it by the body which handed down the punishment. In this case, the GAC which imposed the suspensions has confirmed that it is likely to recommend all cases for review.

According to Rule 143 of the Official Guide, "reinstatement may only apply in cases where strict application of the rules has resulted in hardship" - a sufficiently vague criterion not to hold up any of the cases at issue.

Presumably, the committee will have deliberated before tomorrow week's Central Council meeting and at that stage will present its proposals. Immediate amnesty has been suggested as the likely outcome but some reduction in the duration of the suspensions is fairly certain.

Meanwhile, another long-running feud will continue a while longer as the Carrickmore club in Tyrone has confirmed that it will lodge appeals against the decisions of the county's Games Administration Committee in respect of the abandonment of the recent Division One final.

Carrickmore were banned from this year's league and 11 of the club's players were suspended.