The historic first appearance of the Donegal hurlers at Croke Park could be in jeopardy. The squad are due to hold a crisis meeting tonight to decide whether the panel will make themselves available for the Nicky Rackard Cup semi-final match against London scheduled for O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny on Sunday (1pm).

The move comes following this week's decision by the Donegal County Board Disciplinary Committee to throw the Burt and Seán MacCumhaills senior hurling teams out of the county championship following a row between the sides in their first-round meeting back in June.

No individual players received a ban or suspension. As a result, Burt are threatening to withdraw all their players from county duty. Nine of the team named for Sunday's game against London are from the club, with others on the substitute's bench.

The club, located in the Inishowen Peninsula, were seeking their 15th consecutive county title this year.

"We have worked all our hurling lives to get the opportunity to play in Croke Park, and for them (the county board) to make this decision this week, just ahead of the game that could get us there, is beyond belief," said Donegal player-manager Darren McDermott yesterday.

"What exactly is going to happen on Sunday will be decided by the panel as a whole tomorrow night. But I know for a fact the Burt club want to withdraw their members from the county team as things stand," said the Burt club man.

"Every Burt player has been in a daze all week," he added.

Five clubs currently contribute players to the county hurling panel - Burt, Seán MacCumhaills (Ballybofey), Four Masters (Donegal town), Setanta (Killygordon) and St Eunan's (Letterkenny).

The prospect of winning the Nicky Rackard Cup, and appearing in the final in Croke Park, had given the county hurling team a boost.

"I've never had so many calls from journalists and GAA websites as I have over the last few weeks," said McDermott.

Louth square up to Tyrone in the other semi-final with the final scheduled for August prior to the senior All-Ireland hurling semi-final.

Referring to the melee in the club match that lead to the suspension, McDermott admitted things got "out of hand", but claimed similar incidents had happened in football matches in the county without such severe punishments being handed out.

Noreen Doherty, secretary of the county board, said that regardless of any decision by panel members to withdraw from Sunday's semi-final, Donegal would field a team. "It will be the county board's responsibility to make sure that the fixture is fulfilled," she said. It's understood they have been contacting potential replacements already.

Tickets for tomorrow's football championship fourth round qualifiers and Sunday's All Ireland football championship quarter finals will be on sale today (11am to 7pm) from the ticket office at the rear of the Cusack Stand, from Ticketmaster outlets and via the GAA's official website, www.gaa.ie.