MAYO manager John Maughan and central attacker Colm McMenamon may face serious disciplinary measures after incidents in the Connacht championship game against Leitrim on Sunday. Their fate depends on what referee Michael Curley writes in his report of the match.

McMenamon and Leitrim's Gerry Flanagan were sent off in the match Flanagan for an incident involving Maughan. McMenamon was ordered off the pitch towards the end of the game by Curley after what appeared to be a double transgression, white Maughan may be cited for going on to the pitch without permission.

Maughan was made less than welcome by some of the Leitrim players, one of whom might have been more gainfully employed in Las Vegas on Saturday night and who succeeded in putting Maughan on the seat of his shorts, something which Evander Hotyfield did not achieve with Mike Tyson. Flanagan got sent off for his troubles.

McMenamon's punishment may be greater than normal as he was one of seven Mayo players suspended for their involvement in a pitched battle during last year's All-Ireland final replay against Meath. McMenamon was suspended for two months on that occasion. His interest in this year's championship could be at an end, particularly if television evidence is invoked against him.

In any event, it must be conceded that Mayo's performance on Sunday was less than convincing. They squandered several chances of scores, particularly in the first half when the breeze was behind them, and even though they won convincingly, it cannot be regarded as a promising display.

Former Mayo players such as Willie Joe Padden and Tomas Tierney believe that Mayo have yet to show their true colours.

Padden says Mayo can go all the way to win the All-Ireland, which they so narrowly failed to do last year. There is a lot more in that team at the moment than we have seen. Players like Liam McHale haven't really reached a peak yet and James Nat ten is one of the best players in the country at the moment. I believe that they and several other members of the team wilt improve as things go on.

"I know that they wilt have problems with Sligo, which is a team of the future, but I have no doubt that Mayo have the potential to win the All- Ireland this year." he opines.

Tierney, who played for Galwav in the notorious All-Ireland final of 1983 against Dublin and who later lined out with Mayo, agrees with Padden. "There is a lot of potential left in the Mayo side. Sligo will not be a push-over, but it will give Mayo a huge incentive to get back to Croke Park again, and I believe that Sligo are good enough to bring the best out of them and to bring Mayo to a peak which they need if they are to go any further," he says.

Hyde Park, Roscommon, has been confirmed as the venue for the Connacht final between Mayo and Sligo on August 3rd. Sligo had the option of staging the match, but crowd limitations at Markievicz Park ruled out that possibility.

It appears that an offer from the Mayo county board to agree to making Markievicz Park the venue for the next two Mayo-Sligo championship matches in return for hosting this year's fixture was not regarded by Sligo as acceptable.

Crowd management problems were again evident at Sunday's semi-final at McHale Park in Castlebar. It appears that the Connacht Council underestimated the possible attendance and a crowd of close to 25,000 turned up for a match which was expected to peak at 15,000.

A bizarre situation arose when adults presenting themselves at the gates willing to pay Pounds 8 for admission were told that the tickets at that price had all been sold and the only tickets available were those which had been allocated to young people at a price of Pounds 3. These were sold at that tower price to adults.

This writer spoke to several people yesterday who had found themselves in that dilemma and were not all that unhappy about it.

They agreed, however, that it was an unlikely situation and one which should not be repeated.

The number of programmes ordered for the match also seemed to be grossly underestimated. The programme order, reportedly of 8,000 could have been doubled.