A High Court judge yesterday suspended a disciplinary decision that had banned international handball star Tom Sheridan from the sport.
Mr Justice Barry White told Mr Sheridan (36) of Kells, he could join Co Meath team-mate Walter O'Connor to meet Kilkenny's Michael Duxie Walsh and Eugene Downey in the All-Ireland Handball Final at Croke Park tonight.
A six-month suspension imposed from August 28th last on the player by the Irish Handball Council was set aside by the judge until the High Court later decides if the punishment was meted out in accordance with fair procedures.
The suspension was imposed by An Coiste Gnimh, a sub-committee of the Irish Handball Council, for alleged misconduct during a match last year which brought the GAA into disrepute.
Mr Colm Smyth, SC, who appeared with Mr Willie Penrose for Mr Sheridan, had told the court his client had been one of the most successful players in the last two decades and planned to retire this year. He had won 50 national titles and had represented Ireland on many occasions.
Mr Sheridan claimed that in a match with Mr O'Connor against Dublin in August 2003, an opposition player had threatened to break his jaw and he had brought this to the attention of the referee. In January last he had received a referee's report in which he had been cited for pushing the opposing player.
He claimed the GAA, in suspending him, had failed to comply with its own rules and he had been refused a right of appeal.
An Coiste Gnimh secretary, Lorcan O Ruairc, claimed Mr Sheridan had "lacked candour" in his evidence in failing to disclose that the referee had temporarily stopped the game and had issued a warning to him for pushing.
Mr Justice White said GAA rules provided for a motion to suspend a player to be proposed, seconded and passed and for punishment to be imposed. It was revealed this had not been done in accordance with the rules.
Judge White said there was a serious issue to be considered before the High Court in relation to the application of the rules and the legality of the penalty imposed.
He said that had the rules been complied with at the disciplinary meeting as long ago as November last year and a decision to suspend Mr Sheridan for six months had been taken the suspension would by now have run its course.
Granting Mr Sheridan an interlocutory injunction restraining the GAA from taking any further steps on foot of its purported decision, Mr Justice White said he would suspend the implementation of the disciplinary suspension pending a full court hearing.