NEWS ROUND-UP: Kildare have admitted a certain confusion in relation to the rule which is likely to cost them the point picked up against Sligo in Sunday's opening NFL match at Newbridge. Seán Moran reports

Kildare have admitted a certain confusion in relation to the rule which is likely to cost them the point picked up against Sligo in Sunday's opening NFL match at Newbridge. Controversy arose when it became clear that Kildare had used 21 players during the course of the match. Although the county points out that two of the players were introduced as blood substitutes, the rule governing replacements is straightforward.

"We weren't clear on that," said county secretary Richie Whelan yesterday, "but we'll wait and see what the referee has to say about it. We were badly hit by injuries and lost Anthony Rainbow and Martin Lynch before the game started. Ronan Sweeney had to go off twice with bad gashes on his knee and on his head. And John Doyle got a bang on the nose. The feeling we had was that in using two of the players as blood substitutes, we were within our rights. What was done was done in good faith."

Under the rules of control - 1.5 (i) Blood Rule - a player with a blood injury "may be temporarily replaced, subject to his team using a maximum of 20 players". Consequently the number of blood substitutes is irrelevant, once Stuart McKenzie-Smith became the 21st player to take to the field.

Furthermore, it is unlikely that even if referee Mickey Hughes somehow missed the sixth player that the matter would rest there, given the volume of publicity it has received. Sligo are understood not to want to pursue the matter but they will be awarded the additional point should Kildare have to forfeit the match.

There is an irony in McKenzie-Smith being the illegal player, as his club Sarsfields were the opponents against whom Dublin champions Na Fianna fielded six substitutes in last December's controversial Leinster club semi-final replay.

Sarsfields would have been within their rights to demand a forfeit but instead offered a re-fixture. There are a couple of differences between the two cases.

Firstly, Sarsfields were nine points down in a knockout competition and the illegal player came on during injury-time at the end of the match, whereas Kildare's sixth player came on with over five minutes left of a drawn fixture. Secondly, the fact that the match was in the National League means that forfeiture would entail only dropping a point rather than termination of the county's interest in the competition.

There is also the likelihood that the Games Administration Committee (GAC) will be anxious to put the foot down on infringements of this rule, given that the provision for blood substitutes has been in force since the beginning of last year's championship.

One aspect that is unlikely to be considered is the length of time spent on the field by blood substitutes. Eddie McCormack played for over 20 minutes and John Wilshire for half an hour when introduced. There is, however, no time limit on blood replacements and the issue will not be raised when the GAC meet to consider the matter next week.

If the recent Strategic Review Committee report is enacted, this sort of controversy is unlikely to arise again. The relevant proposal provides for players being rotated on an inter-change basis - thereby abolishing the distinction between blood replacements and ordinary substitutes.

It was also revealed yesterday that this recommendation has led to GAC dropping the proposal to redraft the penalties for playing an illegal substitute, which were considered in the wake of the Na Fianna controversy.