Sport

Whelan clear to play for Leinster

There was double relief for Dublin at last night's Leinster Council meeting in Portlaoise

By SEAN MORAN
Thu Feb 05 1998 - 00:00

There was double relief for Dublin at last night's Leinster Council meeting in Portlaoise. Senior footballer Ciaran Whelan - who was subsequently named in the Leinster team for Sunday's Railway Cup final against Ulster in Clones - was cleared to play despite being sent off in last Saturday's O'Byrne Cup defeat by Louth.

Further good news arrived with the decision to reduce Damien Bolger's two-year suspension to 12 months, which means that he will be free to play on Saturday week. Bolger was originally banned for kicking an opponent in the head during last year's notorious Dublin-Offaly under-21 championship match at Parnell Park.

Meanwhile, Leinster manager Matt Kerrigan has announced one change on the Leinster team to play Ulster. Meath's Trevor Giles is selected at left wing forward with Vinnie Claffey dropping back to the bench. Declan Darcy switches to the right wing of the attack and Whelan moves to the right corner.

Whelan was dismissed for two bookable offences last Saturday, but, given the precedent of Wicklow's Kevin O'Brien - sent off against Carlow but not suspended because of the experimental rules governing the O'Byrne Cup - he was deemed eligible by the Dublin county board to play for his club Raheny, the following day.

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Last night's meeting clarified the matter by finding that the referee's report had cited him for two offences, one bookable under standard rules and one bookable under the experimental provisions. Consequently, no suspension is appropriate.

The line-up for this year's Fitzgibbon Cup quarter-finals is now complete after yesterday's first-round matches. Holders UCC earned an all-Cork battle with CIT after a powerful display against Athlone RTC. With five of last year's dazzling attack still in service, UCC raced into an early 0-8 to nil lead and, by the 36th minute, led by 1-16 to 0-2, the goal a peach from Joe Deane.

Last year's defeated finalists, Garda College, emerged from their tussle with UCG with five points to spare. Kilkenny's Damian Cleere was the scorer-in-chief with 0-11 and Clare's Ollie Baker was prominent at midfield.