1. Ollie Murphy's sending-off. Derry-Meath, March 5th 2000 - At the end of a niggly NFL match Ollie Murphy, the Meath forward who had scored a crucial goal, got involved with Derry marker Sean Martin Lockhart. Murphy was sent off. After the match, Meath manager Sean Boylan broadcast on the radio a defence of his player and denied that he had head-butted Lockhart, the offence for which Murphy was ultimately cited. Television pictures were inconclusive, but didn't contradict referee Brendan Gorman's view.
2. Brendan Lowry's pitch incursion. Longford-Westmeath, February 6th, 2000 - During the O'Byrne Cup final, the Westmeath manager, Brendan Lowry, intruded onto the pitch and clashed physically with a Longford player and also got into an altercation with the referee. Having been previously cautioned as to future behaviour after a charge of verbal abuse arising from last year's controversial NFL match against Wicklow, he was suspended for six months by the Leinster Council. This was thrown out on appeal to Croke Park's management committee which ruled that Lowry had not been informed of all the impending charges.
3. Enda Galvin's dismissal, Finuge-Tarbert, November 21st, 1999 - During a North Kerry championship match between Tarbert and Finuge, referee Patsy Curtin sent off Finuge's Enda Galvin for fighting with Tarbert's John O'Connell - what appeared to be a red-card offence. He was imprecise in stating the reasons for this in his report. Pressed for clarification, Curtin said that it hadn't been his intention that the player should be suspended for any further matches. Yet no yellow card had been shown and an immediate sending-off offence automtically incurs a suspension. Galvin was selected and played for Kerry in a NFL match a week later. Despite appeals by the referee's club Listowel Emmets, the matter was not reviewed by the county board. Patsy Curtin stood down from the county's refereeing panel and North Kerry PRO Christy Walsh resigned in protest.
4. David Fitzgerald's suspension. Clare-Tipperary under-21, August 31st, 1999 - Clare senior goalkeeper David Fitzgerald was coach to the county's under-21s. At the end of an acrimonious Munster final against Tipperary and amidst a general fracas, he became involved in a brawl with an opposing substitute, who it was alleged had verbally provoked Fitzgerald. After viewing video evidence Munster Council suspended him for two months and his appeal to the Management Committee was unsuccessful.
5. Referee attacked in Galway. Corofin-Dunmore McHales, May 23rd, 1999. - Referee Tommy Gavin had charge of a turbulent county championship match inTuam. At the end of the match, Gavin was making his way off the pitch when he was struck and fell to the ground. Despite the presence of approximately 2,000 people, no-one publicly admitted to having seen the incident. In his report, Gavin claimed not to have seen his assailant, alleged to have been intercounty player Michael Donnellan. Noone was disciplined in connection with the incident.
6. Six players sent off. Carlow-Westmeath, May 9th 1999 - The GAA's new disciplinary rules were introduced ahead of schedule to facilitate the start of the championship. Controversy erupted when Cork referee Niall Barrett dismissed six playersan Kavanagh, John Kavanagh and Ken Walker from Carlow and Kenny Lyons and Rory O'Connell from Westmeath, and afterwards claimed that he had been given the wrong instructions regarding the issue of yellow and red cards (a procedure newly introduced at the time). Carlow's attempt to have the match result overturned was initially successful at Leinster Council but overturned by the Management Committee.
