Parnell Park row verdict tonight

A DECISION is expected tonight on the consequences of the Dublin-Offaly. under-21 brawl. The Leinster Council will investigate and pass judgement on the scenes that erupted at the end of the counties' championship match in Parnell Park last Saturday week.

A sizeable delegation from each county has been asked to attend the meeting in Portlaoise and provincial secretary Michael Delaney is hopeful that the matter can be settled before the Council adjourns.

"It may run into Thursday morning," he says, "but we intend insofar as we can to deal with the matter. I see no reason why we can't."

The Council will be trying to sort out a number of matters. Firstly, there were four players given the line during the match, one before the outbreak of the fracas. Secondly, there is the role of Dublin's manager Dave Billings who ran onto the pitch and was involved in a scuffle with an Offaly player, an incident which appears to have triggered the brawl. Involved in the fighting were players and substitutes from both teams.

When the match eventually resumed, Dublin, who had been trailing, scored a time goal which won the match. They are scheduled to meet Meath in the Leinster semifinal this Sunday.

After the match, the Gardai were called to maintain order and both the referee Frank Toher and Billings were escorted from the ground for their own protection. In the week that has passed since, the matter seems to have calmed down a little but Delaney disagrees.

"No I don't think so. The worst has not blown over, there's a lot of people upset and it's mostly the counties themselves because the match was a low-profile fixture with very few neutrals present."

The Council will base their decisions on the referee's report and two videos of the match. The one shot by Dublin has no record of the disorder whereas the one from Offaly is from a hand-held camera and is so incomplete in certain areas as to make it an unreliable basis for the suspension of players.

"We discussed the referee's report last Wednesday," says Delaney. "But it was inconclusive in some ways because he couldn't see everything that was going on."

The removal of Dublin from the championship has been spoken about as one possible punishment. This would be a severe and unprecedented measure. Two years ago, Laois were thrown out of the under-21 championship after misbehaviour by the team that won the title in 1994. The sanction was later withdrawn because it would punish players who were blameless without having any effect on those who had become too old for the age category.

"It wouldn't have happened before that we banned a team," says Delaney, "and for it to happen would presume that Dublin were the guilty party. It will probably be one of our tougher penalties - whether on individuals or a team. Usually I can write the minutes of a meeting in advance but this time, I'm really not sure how it will go."

Initially, the attitude of the Dublin county board was that the withdrawal of the team would be considered as an expression of disapproval. This rigorous attitude has softened to the extent that not only will withdrawal not be countenanced but any attempt to remove the county will be met by recourse to every appeals mechanism available.

This could considerably inconvenience the Leinster Council and Croke Park as this year's under-21 football championship is being run on a tight schedule with the All-Ireland final due in May. Delaney is non-committal on the subject of expelling Dublin but mindful that the championship doesn't have a lot of time to allow appeals processes run their course.

"Yes, that's at the back of everybody's minds. We went ahead with the semi-final arrangements anyway. Probably we'd view a final in a different light but any hold-up in the championship is a problem. It's being run on a fortnightly basis and with the (All-Ireland) final set for May, there's no real room to push it into June because a lot of third-level exams take place in that month."

Meanwhile, the other controversy that arose from the match is no nearer resolution. Allegations from senior player Jason Sherlock that county vice-chairman Paddy Delaney spat at him during an altercation on the sideline have yet to be processed. Delaney denies that the incident ever took place and despite misgivings in the county board, it looks as if the matter may have to be subject to the full process of investigation and, if appropriate, discipline.

Cavan are applying to the Games Administration Committee for a postponement of Sunday's scheduled Division One relegation play-off against Tyrone in Clones. The county base their appeal on their commitment to an Ulster under-21 semi-final on the day before. The Ulster Council have already declined a request for the postponement of Saturday's match. It's uncertain whether the appeal will succeed given that Tyrone played an under-21 match last week the day before facing Meath and lost Gerard Cavlan to an injury. Tyrone are also scheduled to play an under-21 semi-final on the Saturday.