Roscommon hurler Padraig Feeney was given a 12-month ban by the Connacht Council last night. The suspension follows an incident in the recent Connacht senior championship final on July 13th during which Galway full forward Joe Rabbitte was hit with a hurley on the head in one of the most ugly scenes ever witnessed on a hurling pitch.

Rabbitte sustained a fractured skull from the attack, was unconscious for a half an hour before going by ambulance to hospital, and is believed to have lost 30 per cent of the hearing in one ear. It is not known if the Galway star will ever play again.

Meanwhile, the curtain raiser in Croke Park on Sunday is a semi-final of the All-Ireland junior hurling championship between Carlow and Meath, and not a final as the Carlow players had been led to believe. The match is scheduled to start at 12.45 p.m.. When Carlow beat Louth in a replay recently they were of the opinion that in was a semi-final and that they had qualified for the final against Meath.

Completely overlooked in the mix of misinformation and confusion was the fact that semi-finalists London and Monaghan are also still very much alive in the competition.

Carlow players have been disenchanted by the news that they had been training for a semi-final and not a final in recent weeks.

The Carlow People newspaper had also been misinformed about the status of Sunday's fixture, which they have billed as a final.