Instead of spearheading Kerry's assault on a third successive All-Ireland title, Paul Galvin will spend the summer cooling his heels on the sidelines after being hit with a whopping six-month ban.
The Kerry skipper was handed the suspension by the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) following his display of petulance towards referee Paddy Russell during Sunday's Munster semi-final.
Having been shown a second yellow card, Galvin slapped the notebook out of Russell's hands before haranguing both the referee and linesman. The CCCC clearly took a dim view of the incident and, despite Galvin's subsequent public apologies, have ruled him out of the entire championship campaign.
It had been anticipated that the Finuge man would be charged with a category IV offence under Rule 143 and receive a 12-week censure.
Galvin must now consider whether to accept the sanction or, as is more likely, take his case to the Central Hearings Committee and possibly the Central Appeals Committee and Disputes Resolution Authority.
Earlier today, Galvin spoke of his fear of paying the "ultimate price" for his actions.
"Unfortunately now, I just hope I don't pay the ultimate price and miss the whole championship," Galvin said on Radio Kerry. "You can't really do what I did - the way I reacted.
"You can't do things like that and I set a poor example to kids, so really I just want to say sorry to the Kerry fans and hold my hands up because that is not the way you do things in Kerry football and it's not the way you behave in a green and gold jersey."