Westmeath selector Tomás Ó Flatharta was last night before the Games Administration Committee facing an eight-week suspension on foot of charges that he breached Rule 140 and had "discredited the association". The charges arose from incidents on the sideline during the county's All-Ireland quarter-final defeat by Derry last month.

One Westmeath source said that the charges would be vigorously disputed.

"This looks like a trumped-up thing. It's based on the report of the match monitor and alleges a contretemps on the sideline, physical contact with a Derry mentor and an exchange of words."

Ó Flatharta was brought to Westmeath by Páidí Ó Sé when he was appointed manager of the Leinster champions nearly a year ago. His input to the team was widely commended and his contribution was obvious in Monday's documentary Marooned on RTÉ 1, a programme that charted Ó Sé and the team's progress to July's historic achievement.

If Ó Flatharta has been found to have breached the relevant rule he faces an eight-week suspension. The GAC are expected to announce their decision today.

Meanwhile, GAA president Seán Kelly has moved to defuse the row in Tipperary, which saw last year's football manager Andy Shortall resign and the senior panel withdraw from the summer's All-Ireland qualifier against Fermanagh.

Kelly has asked Munster Council chairman Seán Fogarty, a former chairman of the Tipperary Board, to act as mediator between the Tipperary County Board and Shortall and his selectors, Noel Byrne and Jim Cahill. The management team resigned their positions over the scheduling of a senior hurling championship match involving a member of the football team days before the Fermanagh match.

After the football squad subsequently declared themselves unavailable for selection the county board withdrew the team from the All-Ireland series, an action which led to a €5,000 fine by Croke Park.

In August Tipperary board chairman Donal Shanahan recommended that none of the football team management be accepted as a selector for two years but this was appealed to the Munster Council which ruled that the trio could be nominated.

Shanahan announced at this week's board meeting that the president had asked the Munster Council chairman to act as mediator in the dispute. It is expected he will report back to the October meeting of the board on developments.