GAA Congress: Cards to carry into extra-time as U20s given new 60-hour window

Players red-carded in normal time will no longer be able to be replaced at the beginning of extra-time after motion 22 was passed at Saturday's GAA Congress in Newry.

With 60% needed for success, the motion was passed with 87% approval and reads that "cards, in all circumstances, issued in normal time would carry forward into extra-time."

It was one of a number of notable motions passed at Annual Congress in the Canal Court Hotel.

A motion from Down calling for no appeal against the decision of a CCC to appoint a referee was emphatically passed with 95.4% of the vote in favour.

The current rule refers only to the Central Competitions Control Committee and Provincial Competitions Control Committee and was brought by the Mourne County in the wake of their 2023 county final fiasco.

Kilcoo, who ultimately defeated Burren in the final, appealed the decision to appoint Paul Faloon and went to the DRA after the Down Hearings Committee ruled against them. Faloon subsequently pulled out of the game, as did replacement David Gough, before Brian Higgins ultimately officiated having been appointed just hours before throw-in.

The sticky issue of Under-20 inter-county eligibility for senior teams has also been changed after Cork's motion was passed with 70.5% of the vote going their way.

Previously a seven-day restriction was in place on players to feature in both Under-20 and senior championship fixtures, and it will now instead be replaced with a 60-hour window.

The seven-day window had only applied to tier one hurling and tier one and tier two football competitions, but the 60-hour rule will impact all tiers moving forward.

Abusive language towards a referee, umpire, line umpire or sideline official will now carry a two-game ban rather than