Sheahan to appeal two-year suspension for dope offence

Irish international rugby player, Frankie Sheahan, who has been suspended from playing for two years after being found guilty of a doping offence, is said to be "devastated" by the finding and will appeal the verdict.

Sheahan, the Cork Constitution hooker, has 13 Irish caps and has played 76 times for Munster.

An Independent Judicial Tribunal, at the behest of European Rugby Cup Ltd (ERC), delivered its verdict after investigating high levels of the banned substance, Salbutamol, in a urine sample supplied by the 26-year-old following Munster's Heineken European Cup semi-final against Toulouse on April 26th, 2003.

Salbutamol is a prohibited substance under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) List of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods, upon which the ERC anti-doping programme is based.

Sheahan is an asthmatic, a fact well documented throughout his international playing career, and uses a Ventolin inhaler that contains Salbutamol to control the problem, permitted once falling within certain levels.

The issue initially came to light when he was found to have incorrectly filled in a form prior to the European Cup in which he omitted to indicate his use of Ventolin. This administrative oversight was revealed when he was drug- tested after the Toulouse match.

Sheahan went on Ireland's summer tour of Australia, Tonga and Samoa in June but just over 24 hours after his arrival, he had to return to Ireland.

The A sample test contained high levels of Salbutamol, a situation repeated when the B sample was opened at an IOC approved laboratory in Paris.

Sheahan attended ERC headquarters in Dublin on Monday accompanied by his legal team of Mr Gerry Tynan, Mr John Lucey and solicitor Mr Paul Derham. The three-man independent tribunal, Prof Lorne Crerar (chairman), Dr Donald MacLeod and Peter Brown, heard evidence provided by the defence and the prosecutor for the ERC, Mr Jonathan Taylor, of Hammond solicitors in London.

Unable to reach a conclusion, the tribunal deferred a decision until yesterday, when they outlined their findings, including the following passage: "The tribunal also found that the player's level of the prohibited substance (Salbutamol) was 20 times higher in the sample collected after the semi-final Toulouse game, compared with a sample collected from the player after the quarter-final game against Leicester (two weeks prior to that)."

It imposed a two-year suspension as a result of its findings, banning Sheahan from playing the sport until May 30th, 2005. The player will lodge his appeal by the end of next week, within the permitted time-frame of 14 days.