GAELIC GAMES NEWS:NEXT SUNDAY'S All-Ireland junior club football final was last night in danger, as Tyrone champions Derrytresk considered their options in the light of this week's penalties imposed by the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) in respect of last month's semi-final against Dromid Pearses of Kerry.

Should the club inform the GAA it wishes to push any of its match-related punishments all the way to arbitration or beyond, there won’t be time to exhaust these remedies before the final.

Seven Derrytresk players – Kevin Campbell, Michael Robinson, Seán Slater and Brian Gavin, suspended for four weeks, and three unnamed replacements – were suspended for the final and the club was declared ineligible to enter provincial and All-Ireland championships for the next five years. Restrictions were also placed on the team’s sideline personnel for Sunday’s final against Galway champions Clonbur.

Whereas the bans on the players had been proposed by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), the latter two punishments were imposed by the CHC and have caused resentment in Tyrone. The club is believed to be proceeding with appeals against these, which will go before the Central Appeals Committee. The GAA is awaiting word this morning from the club as to whether the player suspensions are also to be appealed.

Feargal McGill, the GAA’s director of games administration and player welfare, said yesterday whereas the association was standing by to facilitate an appeal, probably this evening, further remedies would result in the final having to be postponed.

Sources in Derrytresk said feelings were running high in the club and wider locality and that some of the punishments might even be challenged in court if remedy couldn’t be secured within the GAA. For the club to succeed at the CAC the penalties imposed would have to be demonstrated to be flawed in rule and the same criteria would apply should the matter progress to the GAA’s arbitration body, the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA).

The DRA has been flexible in the past about holding emergency hearings just before matches and giving interim decisions – obviously further recourse to the courts would not be possible before Sunday – at weekends but McGill appeared to rule out that possibility. “I can say absolutely it’s extremely unlikely the final could go ahead on its scheduled date. We would feel it would be better to postpone the match rather than proceed on the basis of an interim decision. To be fair to both sides, including Derrytresk in getting the fullest consideration for their arguments, I think we would favour waiting for a full decision of the DRA.”

He also said such an outcome would probably mean the final could not take place in Croke Park. The idea of intermediate and junior club All-Ireland finals being staged in the headquarters stadium originated with former president Seán Kelly in the middle of the last decade.

“I’m not pre-empting Derrytresk’s decision about appealing or pre-judging the CAC’s likely verdict on any appeal,” said McGill, “but I think it highly unlikely that any delayed final could be held in Croke Park. The junior and intermediate finals have always been great occasions and the GAA is happy to take a [financial] hit by putting them on there, but it’s unlikely that we’d take a double hit. Anyway it would be a matter for the CCCC.”

One of the few pieces of good news to have emerged for Derrytresk during the week was the clearing of their top forward Joseph McKee, whose suspension had been recommended by the CCCC. On hearing the evidence, however, the CHC is believed to have considered in reaching that recommendation the committee had sought too many clarifications from match referee Francis Flynn.

The punishments proposed for Dromid will also go to a hearing, the date for which has not yet been set, as the Kerry club’s case obviously hasn’t the same urgency.

The GAA also confirmed Kerry All-Ireland winning captain Declan O’Sullivan would not face any further investigation on foot of a previously unpublished picture of an altercation between him and a Derrytresk substitute after the match in Portlaoise which was carried in this newspaper yesterday.

The CCCC investigation had reviewed video evidence of the incident and decided against taking action. Stills photography can be used in investigations but it is treated circumspectly and rarely forms the basis of a charge.