TYRONE'S Pascal Canavan, is likely to be suspended for the Ulster preliminary round match against Down on May 18th following his sending off in Sunday's relegation playoff defeat by Cavan in Clones.

According to Tyrone manager Danny Ball, referee Adrian Walsh said the dismissal - along with Cavan's Ciaran Brady - was for striking. Under rule 137 (c) of the Official Guide: "A player repeating a specific offence, within a two year period, shall be suspended for not less than double the minimum applicable to that offence."

Canavan was sent off on June 25th, 1995, in a highly charged Ulster semi final against Derry which Tyrone won with only 13 men. His offence that day was also striking. The Games Administration Committee GAA have jurisdiction over league matches and will consider the referee's report and request details of the player's disciplinary record from his county secretary.

The minimum suspension for striking is one month, and, doubled, that amounts to eight weeks which would rule Canavan out of the Down match.

"We can't afford to miss players," says Ball. "I know in my head the 15 players, I would like to field in the championship, and if Pascal gets two months, I'm down to 14 already."

Losing both the match to Cavan and the county's place in Division One was a blow to Tyrone, who had managed to fritter away three opportunities over the last five weeks to preserve their league status.

"I'm disappointed and nobody would believe me if I said I wasn't," says Ball. "The league wasn't high on our agenda, and Division Two is fairly competitive. But it's a disappointment. We gave away two goals and you can't afford to make mistakes like that. We'll be sitting down and talking about where we're going.

"It's not that long to the championship and I feel some people will say that Tyrone are gone. But I wouldn't write us off."

There may be some grim consolation for Ball in the poor showing by Down in their league quarter final drubbing by Kerry on the same Sunday afternoon. Cavan's win was about the highlight of the weekend from an Ulster perspective.

Both the counties relegated from Division One - Donegal accompany Tyrone - are from the north, and the two Ulster counties in the quarter finals - Derry and Down were beaten. So, for the first time that many people can remember - certainly for at least 15 years - there will be no county from the province in the semi finals.

Down's plight is critical. The team that leads the All Ireland roll of honour this decade is still relying on the players who won the championship six years ago. In that time, adequate replacements have failed to come through. Derry fielded an under 21 team which beat Down in the McKenna Cup.

"It was a bit of an eye opener," says team selector John Murphy about lash Sunday's defeat. "We knew it would be difficult, but felt we would put up some sort of resistance. The source of the problem was midfield. If forwards are getting a supply of good ball, the backs can only hold out so long.

"There's no doubt that these guys are still the best in the county. Look at Down at minor and under 21 in recent years. They've done hardly anything. There are the isolated few coming through, but the football played by the senior clubs in Down is not a high standard," said Murphy.

"Apart from the goalkeeper and Finbar Caulfield, we've lost our entire defence from last year's Ulster final. The amount of players lost has been tremendous, and newly made replacements are Just not there.

"There's six weeks to pull things around. But what can you do? Knuckle down and prepare as best we can with what's available," Murphy concluded.