Setback for Sheahan as doping charge decision delayed

MUNSTER and Ireland hooker Frankie Sheahan faces an anxious wait in the battle to clear his name of a doping charge, after an independent Judicial Tribunal decided to postpone making a decision on the case until later in the week.

Proceedings got underway just before 11am yesterday at the ERC’s headquarters in Dublin and after six hours of legal submissions, the tribunal panel of Professor Lorne Crerar, Dr Donald MacLeod and former Scottish rugby international Peter Brown, decided to reserve their judgement until some point before the weekend.

A statement issued by ERC last night said: “The case of Frankie Sheahan, the Munster hooker who was charged by ERC of a doping offence following the Heineken Cup semi-final between Toulouse and Munster on 26 April 2003, was heard by an independent Judicial Tribunal, consisting of Professor Lorne Crerar (chairman), Dr Donald MacLeod and Peter Brown, at the ERC offices in Dublin today (Monday 7 July, 2003).