Larry Tompkins has received a four-month suspension from the Games Administration Committee. The punishment was a response to the Cork football manager's reaction to decisions taken by referee Michael Curley during Cork's Munster semi-final defeat by Kerry in Killarney a fortnight ago.

There is considerable anger in Derry at the eight-week suspension imposed on their county football manager Eamonn Coleman in respect of comments he made about referee John Bannon in the week leading up to the Antrim-Derry Ulster semi-final.

One of the reasons behind this anger is the enormous disparity in impact between the two suspensions.

As Cork have been eliminated from the championship, Tompkins wouldn't have expected to take charge of training for a good while anyway.

Coleman's side, on the other hand, are a match away from the Ulster final, but the Derry manager will have to wait until the All-Ireland final - should his team qualify - before he can again involve himself with the team's preparations.

Tompkins's suspension was in respect of two incidents of abusive language during the Kerry match and "conduct considered to have discredited the Association arising from newspaper comments attributed to him".

These are understood to refer to his statements in the immediate aftermath of the match rather than their repetition in newspapers during the following week.

Coleman's suspension arose similarly from conduct considered to have discredited the association. Pat Holmes, the Mayo manager, was warned about future adherence to match regulations and Fermanagh captain Tommy Callaghan was also warned as to his future conduct.

All four men attended Wednesday night's hearing and were accompanied by representatives of their county boards.

Contacted last night, Tompkins said that he had nothing further to say on the matter. "The committee had a job to do and that's it," he said. "I said what I had to say."

Although he would not have had any coaching duties for a while, Tompkins had considered returning to playing action with his club Castlehaven.

"I was hoping that I could get back with the club, but obviously this has put a damper on it. Up until a few weeks ago, I wasn't able to do much with the club but now that Cork are out, I was hoping to get back involved."

He didn't believe that the suspension would have an impact on whether he would serve out the remaining year of his tenure as county manager.

"Not really. It's dead time. It would be a different story if we were still involved. In that way it's hit Eamonn Coleman a lot harder."

Derry county PRO Gerry Donnelly gave his response. "I haven't had the opportunity to speak to anyone but Eamonn Coleman and he's shocked and disappointed at the severity of it. The county board hasn't had time to look at an appeal procedure but we will be doing that in the next two or three days."

Donnelly accepted, however, that the county manager wouldn't be available to the team for Sunday's match.

"We don't expect him on the line for this weekend. In a way it might help spur on the lads. Sometimes these things can act in that way."

He was angry at the disparity in treatment between the Tompkins and Coleman suspensions, but also believed that on its merits, the suspension of the Derryman was incorrect.

"He was asked to comment on John Bannon's appointment. Was he happy? He said no. People vilified the referee over his performance that day (the All-Ireland semi-final between Derry and Galway) and no one was pulled up at the time.

"It's not appropriate to a two-month suspension. The disciplinary code is lop-sided when you can get four weeks for punching someone and two months for something said in the heat of the moment."