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The abrasive tendencies that earned Alan Quinlan selection for the Lions tour to South Africa now look to have ended his hopes of what could have been a career-defining trip for the Munsterman.

Head coach Ian McGeechan has not enjoyed the best of fortune since announcing his Lions squad late last month.

On the injury front, scrum-half Tomas O'Leary has already been ruled out with a broken ankle while Tom Shanklin's tour hopes are in the balance due to a dislocated shoulder.

Munster's collective loss of form in their heavy Heineken Cup semi-final defeat will be an added worry for the Scot, though he will have been pleased to see Leinster's Lions contingent stand up well last weekend.

McGeechan will be keeping his fingers crossed there are no more injury worries from the closing rounds of the Guinness Premiership and the Heineken Cup final.

Then there is the pending matter of Quinlan's citing for "alleged contact with the eye/eye area of Leinster player Leo Cullen" during the showdown at Croke.

What is not in doubt is that Quinlan's fingers did make contact with the area around Cullen's eyes: the moment was caught perfectly by the television cameras and the slow motion replays will have done the flanker little favours with the disciplinary committee.

Only the committee can decide whether it was an offence that warrants suspension, but on the evidence of previous punishments for similar offences, it would appear that Quinlan is bang to rights.

Previous punishments include a six-month ban for Northampton tyro Dylan Hartley back in 2007, an 18-week ban for his now team-mate Neil Best earlier this season, while Leicester stalwart Martin Corry was handed a six-week suspension in this Heineken Cup.

Of the three, Corry's wrongdoing seems to have more in common with Quinlan's, and the former England captain's lesser punishment was the result of the committee ruling that there was no intent and deciding on a ban at the "low-end of the level of seriousness for that offence".

Clearly, the committee will have to decide on the level of intent by Quinlan and base their punishment on that. The Munsterman is respected as a hard but fair player and has no previous when it comes to gouging.

Indeed, he has a good disciplinary record for Munster this season and has picked up just one yellow card in 20 appearances - a decent effort when you consider his confrontational approach.

Furthermore, Cullen did not appear to suffer any physical damage, though he was quick to confront Quinlan over his actions (see picture).

Eurosport expert Neil Back doubts that Quinlan was trying to gouge Cullen and described the incident as more of a "playful mauling", an attempt to distract the Leinster skipper from the job at hand.

The World Cup winner also said that he hopes "common sense prevails" when the committee comes to dealing with Quinlan.

There is no question that it would be a personal disaster for the 27-times capped Ireland international if he was to miss the South Africa trip.

It represents the 34-year-old's final chance to pull on the famous red jersey and to try and emulate all the great players who have worn it before him.

However, if there is any consistency to these rulings - and there tends to be nowadays - then Quinlan will not escape punishment.

The simple fact is that he did make contact with the area of Cullen's eyes. He may not have intended to injure or gouge his opponent, but the act in itself is dangerous and something the authorities are right to come down heavily on.

The punishment for purposefully targeting an opponent's eyes can be anything from a ban of 12 weeks to three years, so key to the hearing will be the level of intent.

It is unlikely Quinlan did not know where his fingers were, and that suggests there was some intent on his behalf.

According to reports, the popular Munsterman was not expecting the Lions call-up and was in the process of booking a summer holiday when he heard of his selection.

OT fears he may be free to take that holiday after all.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport