Galway's Declan Meehan has declined to accept the GPA Footballer of the Year award.

This is the latest twist in a controversy that started last week. Then it was revealed that Meehan's team-mate Padraig Joyce had been originally announced in a press release as the winner but that Meehan was awarded the accolade at the Gaelic Players Association annual congress and dinner in Portlaoise two weeks ago.

The confusion caused embarrassment to the players' organisation and evidently to Meehan who was in Boston on the weekend of the function. Another of his team-mates, Michael Donnellan, accepted the award on Meehan's behalf. Joyce was also absent from the event, as he was playing for Connacht in the Railway Cup down in Killarney. Explaining what had happened, the GPA said last week that the release of Joyce's name had been a mistake.

When contacted yesterday, Meehan confirmed his decision to return the prize but declined to comment further.

Dublin's Des Farrell is chairman of the GPA. Responding to the latest development, he said: "I wasn't aware of this. All I can say is that there was a slip-up, we put up our hands and said that we'd made a mistake."

Meanwhile, Mattie Kerrigan starts his tenure as manager of the Cavan senior football team tomorrow evening when the county take on Louth in the Simonstown Gaels GFC inter-county floodlit tournament. Throw-in is at 8 p.m. Simonstown is located just north of Navan, on the Kingscourt Road.