Ban rules Bray out of quarter-final tie

Meath's Stephen Bray has been ruled out of Sunday's All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final tie with Mayo, after the Royals attacker failed in his quest to overturn his four-week ban last night.

The 2007 All-Star was shown a straight red card following an off-the-ball incident during last Saturday's All-Ireland SFC Round 4 qualifier win over Limerick at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise.

As a result of the incident Limerick's Mark O'Riordain and Sean Kiely received yellow cards. Bray had received an earlier yellow card, but was shown a straight red card late in the game.

Meath officials believed that Bray only warranted a second yellow card for the incident, but found it hard to prove his innocence after no video footage of the incident existed, although they did produce photographic stills of the incident at last night's hearing.

Bray appealed his innocence at a personal hearing in Croke Park last night at a meeting of the GAA's Central Hearings Committee (CHC).

While the CHC recommended a four-week ban for Bray, the Navan O'Mahony's clubman still has the option of appealing his suspension to the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) and ultimately the Disputes Resolution Authoirity (DRA).

Meanwhile, Meath manager Eamon O'Brien has not named his team for Sunday's quarter-final tie, as he was awaiting the outcome of last night's hearing in the hope that Bray would be available for selection.