Laois footballer Michael Lawlor has been handed a sixmonth suspension and will miss the entire championship. Lawlor was involved in an incident with a linesman during the county's National Football League match with Sligo two weeks ago. The ban was handed down under Rule 138 (3) (ii) of the Official Guide, governing minor physical interference with a match official. Lawlor is one of Laois's most experienced players and will be a loss to the team's forwards.

Pat Coyne of Mayo was suspended for 12 weeks arising out of an incident in the NFL fixture with Sligo on February 25th. This was the same match in which Sligo's Mark Cosgrove picked up the eight-week suspension which ruled him out - by hours - of last weekend's semi-final against Galway.

Coyne was cited for kicking an opponent but has only a few weeks of his suspension left and while he obviously misses Sunday's league final against Galway, he will be available for his county's first championship match, against London on May 27th.

Paddy Reynolds of Meath was suspended for four weeks after being cited for striking in the match against Mayo on April 8th. Other four-week suspensions imposed were: Anthony Rainbow (Kildare) for striking in the league match with Longford, whose Colin Hanniffy received the same ban for a similar offence. Joe Byrne of Carlow (striking) and Cormac Murphy of Meath (use of elbow) were also suspended for four weeks after incidents in the Carlow-Waterford and Meath-Laois league games on April 15th.

All suspensions apply from the date of the respective games.

TG4 will maintain their high level of National League coverage at the weekend. Saturday's National Hurling League semi-final between holders Galway and Tipperary will be broadcast at 5.45 p.m. The following day, there will be live coverage of the NFL finals from Croke Park. GAA Beo goes on air at 1.45 p.m. with coverage of the Division Two final between Cork and Westmeath followed by the all-Connacht meeting of Galway and Mayo in the Division One final.

There will also be live updates and coverage from Semple Stadium, Thurles, where Clare take on Kilkenny in the second NHL semi-final at 3.15 p.m.

There has been some comment that the extended broadcasting of the leagues contributed to the poor attendances at the NFL semi-finals last weekend when an aggregate of only 12,000 attended the Galway-Sligo and Mayo-Roscommon matches.