Yet another bout of hostilities in Laois GAA circles was dealt with on Tuesday night when Danny Doogue - an All-Ireland-winning minor in 1996 - was handed a 48-week suspension arising from an incident in the club senior football championship game between Graiguecullen and Ballylinan on May 14th.

The Laois GAC also suspended unused replacement Seán Doogue, a brother of Danny, for 24 weeks arising from the same alleged post-match assault on linesman Rowan Headon, who is also chairman of the Timahoe club that hosted the fixture. The GAC felt Headon did not have a case to answer.

Danny Doogue was found to have contravened Rule 142 (category A) of the GAA official guide, while Seán Doogue was also found guilty under Rule 142, Section Three part ii, which is a lesser penalty for a "minor physical interference".

Both players have the option to appeal their suspensions to the Leinster Council.

The three-person disciplinary panel consisted of county secretary Niall Handy, PRO Marcella Daly and vice chairman Brian Allen. County board chairman Dick Miller did not take part in the hearing as he is a member of the Timahoe club.

The Doogue brothers' club, Graiguecullen, was fined €1,000 under Rule 144, bringing the game into disrepute, but the club avoided disqualification from the Laois football championship.

The incident arose after Ballylinan levelled the match seven minutes into injury time of the opening round of the club championship group stages.

Danny Doogue received a 20-year suspension from the Carlow district soccer league for assaulting a referee last season, while playing for his club St Patrick's of Carlow.

This is the second violent incident in a Laois championship game in the past eight months. Last November, a combined total of 216 weeks of suspensions was handed down to four players after an incident in the county SHC final between Castletown and Camross.

Castletown goalkeeper Ger Cuddy received 96 weeks. Castletown's Brendan Cuddy and Camross's Tommy Delaney received 48 weeks each. Fifteen-year-old Dean Delaney, who was taken to hospital with injuries sustained during the game, got a 24-week ban.

Meanwhile, the Kerry under-21 hurlers have withdrawn from the Munster championship.

When The Irish Times asked Kerry and Munster PRO Willie O'Connor why the under-21s forfeited last night's quarter-final against Clare, scheduled for Cusack Park in Ennis, he replied, "For obvious reasons."

Asked to elaborate, O'Connor added, "When a team doesn't have 15 players they can't play a match. Those are the facts and there is nothing more that I or anyone else can add to it."

However, Kerry county board chairman Seán Walsh outlined why Kerry hurling manager (senior and under-21) Gerry Molyneaux was unable to send a team to Ennis.

"By Tuesday evening it became clear that four players who are sitting their Leaving Certificate would be unable to travel," explained Walsh. "We would be sailing very close to the wind by taking the field without these players.

"We had no chance of winning as it was but we wanted to participate and be competitive. It is very disappointing not to be involved in the Munster championship as this panel has been training alongside our seniors all year."

Hurling in Kerry made a significant breakthrough this season when the county reached the National League Division Two final and Walsh confirmed that the under-21s would compete in the B championship next month.

But Clare PRO Des Crowe has left the door open for the game to be rescheduled.

"It's disappointing for Clare also as we could have done with the game before the semi-final against Tipperary, now in Thurles, on July 5th. If Kerry could regroup in the next week or fortnight hopefully we can still organise the game. Clare don't want a walkover."

The new national hurling co-ordinator, Paudie Butler, who has been assisting Molyneaux with team preparation this year, feels the Kerry County Board must take a more long-term view on the future of hurling in the county.

"They shouldn't be making decisions at the last minute about anything," said Butler. "It's very difficult to get a system that suits them as there are no easy games in Munster. The hurling management need to sit down with the county board and have a long discussion."