Pat Harte suspended for next match

It's been announced that Pat Harte has been suspended for four weeks for his straight red against Galway, with effect from the date on which it happened (no need for reminders on that one). However, in a change to the suspension rules - which I must confess escaped me when they were promulgated by Congress - the ban also includes a match-specific element (another aspect of that heathen, pagan soccer that has apparently been adopted). It means that in addition to the four week time ban, the suspension also covers the next match the county plays in the championship. So, if I'm reading it correctly, our man gets banned for four weeks from playing any matches including, one assumes, club ones (so his club ends up getting punished for something that happened when he was playing for his county) and he also has to sit out our first round qualifier match on July 7th. This is a bit of a blow, particularly so if we get a dog of a draw in the first round.

Also on the topic of suspensions, it's been reported this morning that the Cork and Clare GAA county boards are apparently going to mount a vigorous defence of a number of players (four from each side) who are about to incur month-long bans for all that beltin' and batin' that took place in Semple Stadium last Sunday prior to the Cork-Clare Munster hurling championship clash. What kind of defence do they plan to mount, I wonder? Guilty but insane, perhaps. No doubt that great GAA rule book expert Frank Murphy will be prominent in the Cork corner on this one. Prepare for exoneration on all counts.