No decision on broken jaw incident

The saga of James McCartan and Kenny Larkin's broken jaw drags on. Yesterday the GAA's Games Administration Committee deferred judgment on an incident in the match during which Larkin sustained his injury pending the interviewing of further witnesses by the investigating committee.

This latest deferral means resolution of the matter will be, at the earliest, a full 10 months after the Down-Westmeath challenge match, held in Newcastle, Co Dublin last May.

Larkin, then a 19-year old student garda, had his jaw broken during the match - allegedly by McCartan, who denies the charge. Criminal proceedings are imminent with the Down All-Ireland medallist due in court next month to face the charge.

Whereas the GAC chair and secretary Tony O'Keeffe and Seán Ó Laoire were unavailable for comment there is unease within the GAA at the prospect of the GAC verdict emerging just before the matter goes to court. This aspect of the investigation was addressed last year by the GAA's Management Committee and director general Liam Mulvihill.

Management directed the matter be resolved as quickly as possible whereas Mulvihill emphasised there was no bar to a GAC investigation proceeding parallel to a criminal prosecution and that a county board had handed down a suspension in a previous case that had subsequently gone to court. Any finding by a disciplinary committee is not prejudicial to a criminal trial, which has a higher standard of proof.

Yesterday's public statement by the GAC stated: "As a result of the attendance of the Down delegation, the GAC has requested the investigating committee to interview further witnesses into an incident in a Down v Westmeath challenge game last May." The Down delegation included McCartan.

The identity of these witnesses is not known at the moment. The match was arranged at short notice and consequently attracted hardly any spectators. The witnesses were described as being "non-Down and non-Westmeath" but sources in both counties were unable to cast light on this new evidence. Its emergence raises the question as to why these witnesses were not interviewed before now.

There is also confusion between the parties as to the scope of these further deliberations. The GAC statement refers to the interviewing of further witnesses whereas sources in Down say they had agreed the entire case would be reheard. Whatever the nature of the remaining investigation the matter is unlikely to be resolved before the criminal case is heard.

The GAC also announced it is to conduct an investigation into incidents, which took place at the NFL match between Cork and Kerry in Tralee on February 7th. This is another surprise in that the incident after the final whistle, which saw Kerry's Paul Galvin allegedly struck and taken to hospital, was reportedly spotted by a match official and mentioned in the referee's report. Further details have obviously come to light.

The GAC will also investigate an incident in the DunloyPortumna All-Ireland club hurling semi-final. This investigation is on foot of the match referee's report.

Meanwhile, Gerard Cavlan and Enda McGinley have been drafted into the Tyrone attack for Sunday's Dr McKenna Cup final against Donegal.

TYRONE (SF v Donegal): J Devine; R McMenamin, C McAnallen, C Gourley; C Gormley, G Devlin, P Jordan; K Hughes, S Cavanagh; B Dooher, B McGuigan, G Cavlan; M Harte, O Mulligan, E McGinley.