Paddy Reynolds has been suspended for eight weeks. This means he will not be available for Meath until the All-Ireland semi-finals should the county beat Dublin in Sunday's Leinster final and survive the All-Ireland quarter-finals three weeks later. Reynolds was shown a red card in the second half of last month's Leinster semi-final against Kildare.

Reported for striking, he received double the prescribed four-week suspension from the Games Administration Committee as he had been sent off for a similar offence during the National League.

There was better news for Mayo's Ray Connelly who was sent off in the Connacht final against Roscommon on July 1st. He has been exonerated. After viewing video evidence the GAC decided that his action did not warrant a sending-off. It was also noted that the referee Seamus McCormack did not see the incident.

The referee was unsighted when the incident took place and acted on the advice of his umpires. Subsequent television pictures showed that Connelly had only pushed Roscommon's Frankie Dolan and that the initial confrontation had been between Dolan and Mayo goalkeeper Peter Burke.

Another player who will be missing championship action is Down hurler Michael Branniff. He was sent off in the Ulster hurling semi-final against Antrim on July 1st. He has been suspended for four weeks from the date of the match, and will miss Sunday's provincial final against Derry but if his team wins, he will be back for the All-Ireland quarter-final.

Eddie McCormack and Christy Byrne of Kildare were reported by referee Brian Crowe for `verbal abuse' at the end of the All-Ireland qualifier against Sligo last Saturday. Both were suspended for eight weeks from the date of the match.

Sligo's Niall Carew, sent off against Kildare, requested a personal hearing and this was granted.