GAA NEWS:THE CENTRAL Appeals Committee may prove Paul Galvin's last resort in seeking a reduction of his 24-week suspension arising from two incidents with match officials during Kerry's game against Clare on June 15th.
A hearing is expected to take place next week after the Central Hearing Committee upheld his punishment last Monday night in Croke Park.
The Kerry football captain does retain the option of continuing the appeal process onto the Disputes Resolution Authority but considering this autonomous body was set up to prevent players seeking High Court injunctions, Galvin's current defence may carry little weight in such an environment.
To put it simply, Galvin is throwing himself on the mercy of the GAA system. He has already expressed regret for slapping the black book out of Paddy Russell's hand and verbally abusing the linesman Michael Meade. His defence is a guilty plea in the hope of leniency. There is no legal or technical argument apparent that could be presented to the DRA.
For his "category four" offence, and including an eight-week suspension for a "category two" offence, which runs concurrently, the minimum ban is 12 weeks.
Such a reduction by the CAC would allow him to play in the All-Ireland final on September 21st - if Kerry made a fifth consecutive appearance in the decider.
"We shall go on with the appeal process," said county board secretary Eamon O'Sullivan. "Going in we knew we were dealing with fair-minded people who have a job to do . . . Our position is we feel 12 weeks is an adequate suspension for Paul Galvin. The punishment doesn't appear to fit the crime."
Asked about the possibility of approaching the DRA should the CAC hearing fail, O'Sullivan said "there was not much room to manoeuvre" but was understandably reluctant to elaborate.
There has, however, been a steady flow of Kerry personalities, including former players and managers, publicly taking the sympathetic line that three months would be sufficient punishment for the Finuge native.
Nonetheless, the GAA stance appears unshakeable. Sources close to the Central Competitions Control Committee have repeatedly pointed to the consistency of their suspension process with several examples of six-month bans for anyone deemed to use threatening behaviour toward officials.
The perceived lack of respect for referees within the GAA was brought into sharper focus yesterday with news that the former Cavan footballer and current referee Gerry Sheridan was struck by a supporter from Ballinagh GAA club after a recent match between Ballinagh and Kilgarry.
The Cavan CCC reacted swiftly by handing the Ballinagh senior team a 24-week suspension that rules them out of the county championship.
The supporter was banned for 96 weeks, becoming the second person associated with the club to receive such a sanction in 2008.
There were further 52-week suspensions for five individuals, including two players and an umpire involved in the game.
Ballinagh have appealed the senior team ban.
Next in the GAA dock is the Down assistant manager DJ Kane, who goes before the CHC tonight.
The two-time All-Ireland winner (1991 and 1994) is also facing 24 weeks in the stands for his apparent involvement, when under suspension, during the Ulster football quarter-final draw with Tyrone on June 8th.
The initial problem seemed to be Kane's half-time team talk in that game, but the Down secretary Séamus Walsh was adamant yesterday that was not so: "He was not suspended over a team talk. It was for partaking in the management of the team by virtue of having spoken to (manager) Ross Carr and fellow selector Mickey Doyle during the game."
The Limerick hurling manager Richie Bennis may yet be sanctioned for his attempted approach to, and the subsequent comments about, the referee Eamonn Morris after last Sunday's Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final defeat to Clare.
