Waterford must plan without Tadhg de Búrca for Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final after his one-match ban was upheld by the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) in the early hours of this morning.

de Búrca received the ban after he was shown a straight red card in the closing stages of his side's 1-23 to 1-19 quarter-final win over Wexford at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last month.

Waterford had previously appealed the suspension to the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) and Central Appeals Committee (CAC) before turning to the DRA as a last resort.

Waterford manager Derek McGrath may now have to re-jig his team in the absence of his star sweeper.

A statement from the DRA read: "An application to the DRA by Waterford Senior Hurler, Tadgh De Burca, challenging the decision of the Central Hearings Committee to impose a One Match Suspension for the offence of Behaving in any way which is dangerous to an opponent, including deliberately pulling on or taking hold of a faceguard or any part of an opponent's helmet (Riail 7.2 (b) Cat III (iv) T.O 2017) arising out of an incident which occurred during the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship game between Waterford and Wexford, which said decision had been upheld by the Central Appeals Committee, was dismissed by a DRA Tribunal hearing at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Dublin on 10 August 2017.

"The DRA Tribunal (Rory Mulcahy SC, Mr Niall Cunningham, solicitor and Ms Orlaith Mannion) held that the Claimant had failed to establish the decisions of the CHC and CAC were irrational in finding the infraction to have occurred and in imposing the minimum suspension.

"This statement is for information purposes only. The Tribunal's fullreasoned, written award will be communicated to the parties and published on the DRA website in due course."

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