Red card amnesty for players

Players facing suspensions in this year's intercounty championship as a result of receiving red cards last year will benefit from an amnesty confirmed at last Saturday's Central Council meeting.

The regime in the past three years has seen players who pick up straight dismissals obliged to miss the next match in the championship even if that falls the following season.

This was introduced to stop such suspensions being rendered meaningless because they were time-based and for example a four-week ban on a player whose team had just been eliminated from the championship didn't necessitate him missing a single match.

The amnesty has been introduced on foot of the raft of major rule changes that have taken place over the past 12 months within the GAA, governing the administration of discipline by all organising committees from counties up to national level.

"It was considered a logistical and organisational nightmare to trace suspensions through the old committees and into the newly established ones," according to Leinster secretary Michael Delaney, who is a member of the Central Competitions Control Committee, the body that organises fixtures nationally.

"As a result, it was decided in those circumstances that anybody carrying a suspension from 2006 would start this year with a clean slate."

The amnesty also covers those who have been sent off for receiving two yellow cards in a match. The rules stipulate that anyone who is sent off in this manner twice within a 48-week period must serve a two-week suspension.

Any player in that situation from now on will have his slate wiped clean and so will not be considered to be carrying the double-yellow exposure from any time within the past year.

At the weekend Central Council ruled that such double yellow dismissals couldn't be overturned on appeal by the Central Hearings Committee, as happened just recently in the case of Kerry player Kieran Donaghy, whose second yellow card in a league match against Mayo was rescinded on the basis of video evidence.

Meanwhile, the replay details for the All-Ireland club semi-final between Dr Crokes of Killarney and Kildare's Moorefield have been announced. It will go ahead next Saturday afternoon in Nenagh at 2pm.

Moorefield manager Séamus Dowling, speaking on RTE radio, expressed disappointment at the six-day recovery period after Sunday's draw, given that the final against Crossmaglen isn't for another four weeks: "We thought we would get two weeks, as we've a number of injuries," he said.

Waterford hurlers may be forced to line out against Cork without attacker John Mullane, who received what is believed to be a broken bone in his finger during his side's 11-point victory over Wexford in their opening league game on Sunday.

Mullane, who had scored three delightful points, was forced out of the game after 49 minutes with manager Justin McCarthy rating him as unlikely to be available for the clash with his native Cork.

McCarthy's injury list is growing with Mullane added to Paul Flynn (groin), James Murray (ankle) and Davy Bennett (hamstring) all of whom missed Waterford's victory over Wexford.