National referees' administrator Pierce Freaney has pointed out that Dublin broke no rule in their unusual use of Ciaran Whelan as a 'blood sub' against Westmeath on Sunday. The Raheny clubman actually played for longer as a blood sub than he did when he was introduced later as a full replacement, leading to suggestions that Dublin were exploiting a loophole in the rule. But Freaney pointed out that there is absolutely no time limitation on how long such 'temporary replacements' may play. Whelan replaced a bloodied Shane Ryan (who collided with a team-mate) from the sixth to 14th minute and was brought on again, in the same role, between the 34th and 48th minutes, after Ryan's nose wound reopened. That meant the veteran midfielder had spent 22 minutes on the field before he was later brought in as a replacement for Eamonn Fennell in the final quarter. "It may seem like an anomaly the way it worked out in this instance, but there is no time limit, or indeed numerical restrictions, on blood substitutes who are decided solely by the referee," Freaney added. Tweet

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