Gaelic Games News round-up:Cork football manager Billy Morgan says that he was shocked by the suggested sideline ban of six months, proposed by the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) in respect of an incident during last month's All-Ireland final defeat by Kerry.

Morgan opted for a personal hearing and was last night pleading his case in Croke Park before the Central Hearings Committee. The outcome of that hearing is expected to be released today.

"I would hope so," he said on the way to last night's meeting when asked did he feel he had a realistic chance of avoiding suspension. "When I got an e-mail and attachment [ from Croke Park] I was wondering, 'what's this about? - did I go out on to the pitch or something. I didn't think it was the altercation with the linesman and I was shocked to learn that a suspension of 24 weeks was being proposed."

The severity of the proposal is linked to a suspension for a similar offence, which Morgan served earlier this year for remarks made to Wexford referee Syl Doyle after the opening National Football League fixture of the campaign against eventual winners Donegal.

"I got two months for a throwaway remark," said Morgan of the suspension imposed last March, "which I felt was very harsh but there'd be no justification for six months' being banned from all activity."

The incident in last month's final involved linesman Marty Duffy who had refereed the previous meeting between Cork and Kerry in July's Munster final in Killarney.

"There was a Kerry player holding a Cork player off the ball," according to Morgan. "I drew it to the linesman's attention and he made a comment back to me so I said it was a pity he hadn't been able to spot Cork jerseys being pulled in Killarney, either. I was quite angry and there was another exchange."

It is believed the CCCC based the severity of the suspension on the fact that there had been a number of exchanges between the Cork manager and Duffy, the previous suspension this year and a feeling that anything much smaller would have been meaningless in an intercounty context, as next season's league doesn't start for four months.

Morgan was backed by county chair Mick Dolan when the proposed suspension was initially reported last week.

Speaking to the Examiner newspaper Dolan said: "We have been going to Croke Park for hearings on a regular basis over the course of the summer. We've had lots of fines and other things over the year. In many cases, things were explained and fines were reduced.

"But we are not a dirty county. Maybe a lot of this thing is caused by the rules being too stringent. In other sports, you don't see half these fines coming up.

"We have always offered our support in traumatic times over the year and we will do the same for Billy . . . our common practice as a board has always been to support our players and personnel."

Meanwhile, the Munster club football and hurling championship finals will be played in December and the first rounds will take place on the first weekend of next month. In hurling, the counties that provided last year's final, Cork and Tipperary (Erin's Own and Toomevara), meet in the first round.

Last year's Kerry-Waterford football final (Dr Crokes v The Nire) is on course to be repeated at semi-final stage, although Kerry representatives Kilcummin must first defeat the Clare champions, Lissycasey, or Éire Óg, Ennis who meet in this year's final.

Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny) and Colm Cooper (Kerry) have been honoured with the Opel GPA Gaelic Player of the Month awards for September in hurling and football respectively. Their selection comes on foot of performances in last month's All-Ireland finals.

MUNSTER CLUB SHC

Nov 4th: Quarter-finals: Kerry v Clare, Kerry venue; Tipperary v Cork, Tipperary venue. Nov 11th: Semi-finals: Kerry/Clare v Waterford, Kerry/Waterford venue; Tipperary/Cork v Limerick, Cork/Limerick venue. Dec 2nd: final, TBC.

MUNSTER CLUB SFC

Nov 11th: Quarter-finals: Cork v Tipperary, Cork venue; Clare v Kerry, Clare venue. Nov 25th: Semi-finals: Cork/Tipperary v Limerick, Tipperary/Limerick venue; Clare/Kerry v Waterford, Kerry/Waterford venue. Dec 9th: final, TBC.