THE FIVE Meath players suspended for eight weeks in the aftermath of the National League match against Dublin on April 20th will not seek their Central Appeals Committee hearings until next week as the panel are currently in Portugal for warm-weather training, reports Gavin Cummiskey.

Nigel Crawford, Brendan Murphy, Shane McAnarney, Niall McKeigue and Seamus Kenny are due to miss the Leinster football championship opener against Carlow on May 18th and, should they progress, the next round against Wexford on June 1st.

The players are appealing on the grounds that Wexford man Joe O'Shaughnessy should not have sat on the Central Competitions Control Committee as Meath could play his county during the player suspensions.

Dublin's Bernard Brogan has also sought a CAC hearing resulting from his eight-week suspension in the same game.