The GAA has been making valiant efforts to limit the damage caused by the embarrassing situation which arose at Dr Cullen Park in Carlow last Sunday when six players were sent off in the Leinster championship match between Carlow and Westmeath.

As a result, the GAA has announced that the matter should be sorted out tomorrow evening at Croke Park when meetings of the Games Administration Committee and the Leinster Council will be held "back to back".

The GAC will consider the report of the referee and will decide on any disciplinary matters arising out of it, while the Leinster Council will hear an appeal from the Carlow County Board in regard to the outcome of the match. Carlow will, apparently, argue that the match be declared void and be replayed.

If a rematch is decided, a fascinating dilemma will ensue. The question will arise as to whether any of the players who were sent off in the original match will be eligible to play in the rematch.

The secretary of Carlow, Tom O'Neill, said last night that everybody regretted what had happened. "It is a teething process. Nobody envisaged this. It is unique in the annals of the GAA. We are saying that a replay is the best way out, but we don't know what will happen then to the six players sent off. I believe that it would be unfair to suspend anyone," he said.

The statement from Croke Park, issued yesterday afternoon, read: "The Games Administration Committee (GAC) has announced that it will consider the referee's report relative to disciplinary matters in respect of the (Carlow-Westmeath Leinster championship match) next Friday evening at Croke Park at 6.30 p.m. "Matters other than discipline, including any objection relative to the validity of the result of the game, will be decided at the Leinster Council meeting of the GAA, under whose auspices the game was played, at Croke Park on Friday at 8.30."

This statement illustrates clearly that the GAA is approaching the problem with some gravity. It shows that unforeseen difficulties have immediately manifested themselves as a result of new instructions to referees following the annual Congress in Dublin last month.

Considerable confusion has been caused as a result of an apparent misinterpretation of the new directions given to referees for application in championship matches.

The central figure in the matter has been the Cork referee Niall Barrett, who issued 20 cards, including six red, last Sunday with the result that Carlow finished the match with only 11 players, while the Westmeath side had two players sent off. The general impression by those who were present at the match was that it was far from being what would, normally, be branded "a dirty match". The conditions were dismal with rain and wind driving across the pitch. This contributed to two freakish goals in the first two minutes.

Underfoot conditions made it difficult for players to hold their feet and the result was that honest challenges were frequently mistimed or led to physical contact which would have been avoided if the day had been fine. Players travelling at speed or turning suddenly on the slippery surface frequently came into physical contact with each other which would, otherwise, have been avoided. There was certainly no venom evident between the teams.

The respective managers, Brendan Lowry of Westmeath and Cyril Hughes of Carlow, both confirmed that this was the case immediately after the match and were equally anxious to be sympathetic to each other.

Reports that the referee in question may have misinterpreted the instructions issued prior to the match have not been confirmed.

However, a Croke Park spokesman suggested yesterday that his interpretation of the new instructions was too strict. Whether the Leinster Council will decide to order a replay, on that basis, when they meet in Croke Park tomorrow night, remains to be seen. The instructions issued to referees for the opening matches of the Leinster championship last Sunday read:

"A - A player who has his name taken for a cautionable foul/offence will be shown a yellow card.

B - A player who has been already cautioned as in (A) will be shown a second yellow card, followed by a red card and will be sent off the field of play for the duration of the game only (this would have resulted in a two-week suspension previously).

C - A player who commits an ordering off offence will be shown the red card.

D - Referee's reports will be required to be submitted to the GAC within three days of the game and/or within 24 hours if it is deemed necessary."

It would appear that at Dr Cullen Park last Sunday Niall Barrett interpreted these instructions too vigorously and issued yellow cards unnecessarily for minor breaches of the rules, thereby forcing him to issue a second yellow card and a sending off when that did not seem appropriate in the circumstances.