Diarmuid O'Sullivan may be facing a three-month suspension after Sunday's championship match with Limerick. The Cork full back was captured on television appearing to strike opponent Brian Begley in the opening seconds of the Munster hurling championship semi-final. Referee Aodan MacSuibhne spoke to the players but took no further action.

It has now emerged that the GAA's Games Administration Committee (GAC) will consider the matter at its meeting tomorrow night in Dublin. In the light of its strict disciplinarian approach to date, the GAC's attention could well prove costly to the player and Cork.

In the television pictures, O'Sullivan's hurley can be clearly seen connecting with Begley and should the GAC decide that this was intentional striking of his opponent, the player will be in trouble. Three months is the prescribed suspension for striking with the stick and such a ban would keep O'Sullivan out of action until just before the All-Ireland final this September.

Tomorrow's GAC meeting will view the video evidence from Sunday's match and should the committee decide that O'Sullivan - or Begley or any other player - has a case to answer, he will be asked to appear at a hearing to give his version of events. A decision will then be taken on whether the charge is sustained and what punishment to impose.

Although the GAC has met every week in the championship to date, no meeting had been scheduled for this week. A source close to the committee was reluctant to say that the meeting was specifically called to consider the Cork-Limerick match and said: "There are other items on the agenda but we will be considering the referee's report from Thurles and any other matter arising from the match".

The current GAC, appointed in April by new president Sean McCague and chaired by his longtime associate and former Monaghan chairman Padraig Duffy, has already taken a tough line on discipline. It is arguable that Meath's championship chances were the first casualties of this when Graham Geraghty received two months for verbally abusing match official Paddy Russell in the drawn National League final against Derry. The player's absence was sorely felt by the team on Sunday.

In the modern environment of televised matches, incidents which escape the attention of match officials are being constantly highlighted. Duffy's GAC has made it clear that these sort of outbreaks of indiscipline would be pursued and punished.

The implementation of the GAA's disciplinary sub-committee report has considerably facilitated this new rigour. The sub-committee's recommendations were implemented by annual congress in Galway last April and provide for a centralised control of disciplinary matters. Formerly the provincial councils would have had the responsibility of sorting out incidents in championship matches but now the GAC handles all such matters. This is designed to lend greater consistency to decisions.

There was considerable controversy two years ago when Clare's Colin Lynch was charged on the basis of video evidence and suspended for three months after the raucous opening scenes at the 1998 Munster final replay against Waterford. Lynch even went as far as the High Court in a failed attempt to secure an injunction.

Cyril Hughes has been relieved of his post of Carlow football manager following the county's disappointing run in the recent Leinster round-robin series. Although he had expressed an interest in continuing in the post, Hughes' name will not be among those considered when it comes to decide on a new appointment. This ends his two-year association with the team.

The Munster Council yesterday announced that Sunday's Munster hurling championship tie between Clare and Tipperary at Pairc Ui Chaoimh will require tickets for all patrons, including children. The Ulster football championship game at Ballybofey between Donegal and Fermanagh will also be all ticket.