GLENULLIN not only lost their Derry League match to The Loup in bizarre circumstances after only 13 seconds on Sunday - they could also lose three more points.
The north Derry club refused to field in their Division One encounter on Sunday, leaving the loughshore side to 'win' the throw-in and score a goal, through Anthony O'Neill.
With no John Mitchel's men on the pitch to take (or contest) the kick-out, referee Declan O'Connor duly ended the match on a scoreline of Glenullin 0-0 The Loup 1-0.
However, the sanction in Derry for failing to field a team is a three-point deduction, and this could be imposed on Glenullin at a meeting later this week.
The Derry Competitions Control Committee is due to convene on Thursday evening, by which time it should have received the referees' reports from the weekend games.
Glenullin may contend that referee O'Connor should not have been listed to take charge of one of their games after an incident involving him and their player Eoin Bradley in 2010 ended up in Limavady Magistrates Court.
'Skinner' Bradley pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault after striking the Dungiven official and was bound over to be of good behaviour for two years on a bond of £500 and also ordered to pay O'Connor £500 compensation.
It has been claimed that the Derry County Board did despatch another referee on Sunday after Glenullin's objections but that The Loup refused to play under him and O'Connor also refused to be replaced.
Glenullin, having already lost the `match', could now face further punishment under a rule that was introduced in recent years.
The intention was to prevent clubs who had nothing to play for failing to fulfil league fixtures later in the season but Glenullin could still be penalised even though this was only a round six game.
