The GAA has confirmed today that Paul Galvin's case against a 24-week ban will be reheard by a "newly constituted Hearings Committee" after the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) last night found "procedural irregularities" in the handling of the case.
The DRA "quashed the decision" of the Centrals Hearings Committee (CHC) to ban the player for six months and said the matter should reheard by a newly convened and differently constituted CHC as soon as possible.
Today's announcement is the latest episode in a drawn out six-week disciplinary process against the Kerry captain and raises serious question marks over the effectiveness of the appeals process currently adopted by the association.
While the GAA accepted the DRA's ruling it remains unclear exactly when Galvin's new hearing will take place. The association said that "arrangements will be made for the new hearing to take place as early as possible and that no further comment will be made until due process has taken its course".
Last night the DRA said "Galvin remains suspended in the interim period and is not eligible to play Gaelic games until the disciplinary process has been concluded".
Today's statement from the GAA added: "The DRA has stated that their decision was based on the premise that they considered that certain procedural irregularities had occurred at the CHC hearing. To date the GAA has not received clarification in terms of these irregularities."
The DRA has provided no explanation regarding the "procedural irregularities" at this stage.
Galvin was banned for 24-weeks after he slapped the notebook from referee Paddy Russell's hand when he was shown a second yellow card in the Munster semi-final against Clare.
He then proceeded to voice his disagreement before running to do likewise to the match linesman, despite the efforts of his team-mate Tomas 'O Se to restrain him.
Galvin had two separate hearings with the DRA in the last week. The first began last Monday and went through to 2.30am the following morning without a satisfactory outcome.
The three-person subcommittee of the DRA reconvened on Tuesday before last night's decision was made
Kerry are in action again when they face one of the winners from round two of the qualifiers over the August Bank Holiday weekend.