AS NEWS emerged that a second player had been hospitalised after incidents in the dressingroom tunnel at half-time in Sunday's Westmeath-Wicklow National Football League match in Mullingar, the GAA's Games Administration Committee said that it hoped to deal with the matter quickly.

"Once we've had a look at the referee's report," said GAC secretary Sean O Laoire, "there is no hint of the GAC not taking necessary action. I'm not free to anticipate what the GAC will do, but they will the report as quickly as possible, normally within a few days.

"I expect it to be referred to by the referee but I can't anticipate the content of the report, I've no information on it at the moment. We will also if necessary investigate the matter."

At half-time during the match which was otherwise, according to witnesses, played in a sporting spirit, a melee broke out in the passage to the dressingrooms. Westmeath goalkeeper Dermot Ryan was floored and missed the second half of the match.

"Dermot was just up-ended," said his father Eoin. "He was hit from behind and told me he didn't see who hit him, but someone must have seen it. He was kept overnight in the county hospital and taken this morning (Monday) to (St) James's hospital in Dublin."

Yesterday afternoon he underwent surgery on a fractured cheekbone. "He has two bones fractured," according to Westmeath manager Brendan Lowry, "one in his cheek and another behind his eye. They may have to put in a small surgical plate."

Lowry said that he hadn't seen the incident. "The players were going in at half-time and I had already gone into the dressingroom. Dermot was one of the last to go in and he was knocked down."

Stephen Byrne, Wicklow's centre-forward, was also taken to hospital on Sunday although he played the second half of the match. "I knew that he was injured," said Wicklow manager Niall Rennick, "but he played on.

"In the hotel afterwards he still didn't check in with the doctor but complained of a headache so he was brought to Tullamore hospital on the way home. He wasn't kept in but he had to see the doctor again this morning (Monday) and wasn't at work."

Rennick said that he was one of the first into the dressingrooms. "By the time I went out to see what was happening, it was over, but a number of stewards, gardai and officials and players from both sides were there. The referee was blowing his whistle. I didn't know until afterwards that Westmeath had replaced their 'keeper."

He said the first half had been "completely incident-free" and Wicklow were only two points down after playing into the wind. "It certainly wasn't in Wicklow's interest to be involved in anything untoward. I wouldn't condone what went on but if people choose to get involved, this sometimes happens."

Referee Brian Crowe was unavailable yesterday to clarify whether or not he had seen the incidents. Crowe, whose handling of the game was widely praised, was involved in trying to restore order in the tunnel and it is believed that he has four things to report to GAC. Whether he saw all the incidents will be important in determining if there is to be an investigation.

The matter was to be raised at last night's county management meeting in Wicklow but county secretary Jimmy Dunne said there would be no statement and he would not comment before the referee reported.