Meath referee Seamus McCormack has defended his umpires in the wake of controversy at the weekend's Donegal-Galway NFL match. Galway's Derek Savage received a red card after an incident with Donegal's Eamonn Doherty towards the end of the match.

McCormack acted on the advice of an umpire, just as he had in the case of Ray Connelly's sending-off - later rescinded - against Roscommon in the Connacht final last July. He said that Sunday's incident involved a different umpire.

"I don't mind talking about that - my report's gone in to Croke Park at this stage," he said yesterday. "What happened in the Connacht final was because a player went down and got another player sent off. People might be attacking me or having a go at my umpires over what happened on Sunday but I don't lightly send people off."

Meanwhile Shaun McGinley from Tarbert, who was stretchered from the pitch during Kerry's win over Antrim last Sunday week, has been seen by a surgeon in Waterford who confirmed that the player had damaged the cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time. He will miss the rest of the year.