The GAA will read this and groan. A weekend of hurling in Semple Stadium to rival anything witnessed here down through the ages was somewhat overshadowed by the anger Cork manager Gerald McCarthy feels over the drawn-out disciplinary saga.

McCarthy had one particular grievance. Last Wednesday Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Donal Óg Cusack and Diarmuid O'Sullivan took the day off work to attend a Central Appeals Committee (CAC) hearing in Portlaoise.

With the trio en route to the midlands to discover whether they could play in yesterday's Munster hurling semi-final against Waterford, Cork county board officials were informed the hearing had been postponed until Friday. The reason being a member of the initial disciplinary committee, the (CCC), was unable to attend.

"As it happened that same member did not attend that meeting on Friday night. That is an absolute disgrace," McCarthy said

McCarthy was "in such a rage" with the treatment of his players he put a call into GAA president Nickey Brennan. "I got a curt response (from Brennan) followed by a hang up. I feel the players of our association deserve better than that.

"I think the GAA needs to look at the disciplinary method. We had four players that had unblemished records for 10 years of intercounty hurling. A committee, the CCC, met and proposed a month's suspension on them without even a hearing of the players. I think that's scandalous.

"I don't think that's just for the simple reason, it's very hard for another committee once you go appealing and hearings and things like that, to overturn the decision of one committee that's made at the very start."

The media were not spared either: "There is a small section of the media that do no justice to your trade, lads. I think the way our players were pilloried in the press was an absolute disgrace. I blame the CCC committee for that. I believe they came out with the suggestion that four of our players be suspended for a month. If that were the case, they should have given our players first of all an opportunity to defend themselves without being publicly named.

"Now, they didn't name the players but, lads, you are the press, the media. You know full well you don't present the challenge to the media like that to find out who these eight players were.

"I think actually the media surpassed themselves, some of them, in the way they hung players out to dry. When I see the back page of a sports section with "Semplegate Eight" and eight little pictures of the players involved - like criminals - these are players that have to go to work . . . they have to face family and they don't deserve that. I think that was an utter, utter disgrace."

McCarthy was also keen to not condone the actions of any Cork players involved in the melee with Clare players on May 27th.

"Let me say, and I did it at the appeals hearing, I apologise for our part in the melee. It should not have happened but there were a lot of extenuating circumstances that allowed it happen by the officials here and that came out at the appeals committee hearing.

"Our players went to an appeal that was supposed to be on, here we are almost three weeks into this saga, and our players were looking up to late last night for justice for their case. That is not a good system."

McCarthy was keen to pay tribute to Waterford's victory yesterday along with the performance of the younger players who replaced the suspended trio.

By the time the interview concluded, however, Waterford coach Justin McCarthy was gone. We found him hovering near the Waterford bus outside the Old Stand.

"We'll have to get tighter in defence. We won't win a Munster championship with that type of form," he said.

"We were perhaps short of a game. Six weeks since the league final. The backs especially, but we'll work on it."

Before we left Thurles John Mullane revealed that McCarthy pulled him aside during the warm weather training camp in Portugal to warn him that unless his form improved he would be dropped. Man of the Match? John Mullane.