BECAUSE of the inactivity of the senior clubs' Disciplinary Committee over the holiday period, the current St Patrick's Athletic goalkeeper Gareth Byrne and the ex-St Patrick's Athletic goalkeeper Tony O'Dowd, now with Derry, were each suspended for one game yesterday for pre-Christmas dismissals.

The two were dismissed by Pat Kelly in separate encounters .against Athlone and UCD on December 15th and 17th respectively. The suspensions will come into effect on January 15th, making them unavailable for the Premier Division games at Galway and Cork the following Saturday.

Two-game suspensions which come into effect that week affect the Limerick player-manager Noel King, following his sending-off against Longford Town, teammate Albert Finnan (for reaching 20 penalty points), Bray's Anthony McKeever (20 penalty points) and Waterford's Alan Reynolds (20 penalty points). The latter's teammate Keith Green has received a one-game ban after adding to his carryover of 16 penalty points with a solitary booking. A number of games which were cancelled over the holiday period have been rescheduled subject to the clubs concerned not being involved in FAI Cup first round replays.