CORK BOSS JOHN Cleary hit out at the two red cards handed out in the second half of their two-point loss to Dublin in Páirc Uí Chaoimh today.
The Allianz football league encounter saw both sides reduced to 14 men in this Division 2 meeting – Cork midfielder Ian Maguire dismissed for a second yellow in the 38th minute and Dublin defender Lee Gannon also sent to the line nine minutes later after he was booked to the second time.
In total Laois referee Seamus Mulhare showed 10 yellow cards and two red, with Cleary terming some of the decisions ‘bizarre’.
“Soft is being kind to it. Both of them were fierce harsh altogether. I don’t know was there a new rule in today or whatever, they didn’t seem to me like any sendings (sic) offs, both of them
“When the championship starts, it will be blood and thunder. Every game at the start of the league, there is soft cards and soft sending offs, and that was it today. But as I said, some of the decisions were a bit bizarre on both sides. I wouldn’t be blaming the referee for the defeat today.”
Dublin boss Dessie Farrell also felt the red card decisions were ‘soft’.
“I thought the two sending offs were a little bit soft but they balanced each other out in terms of one from each side, from our own perspective with Cork having got a red card you’re always on guard then. You have to be very very disciplined and we’d be disappointed that we ended up equalling the numbers there unnecessarily so.”
Cleary was left disappointed that his team did not manage to get something out of the Division 2 encounter and had to settle for the 0-18 to 2-10 defeat.
“The lads are very disappointed inside there. We came back, I thought we deserved to get something out of it. Maybe Dublin’s bit of experience in the end, they got their scores maybe a slight bit easier at the end of the game.
“But look, I’d be intensely proud of the lads there. The game could’ve went away from us after half-time and we were down to 14 men. They kept battling and we got ourselves back in the game and look, width of a crossbar that we weren’t going home with the two points. Some encouraging performances, some encouraging play.”
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Originally published at 18.30
That was as poor a refs performance that I’ve seen in a long time. Soft cards and sendings off on both sides. Cork had chances apart from that and didn’t take them. Kudos at the end to Hurley to go for goal and a fine save by the dubs keeper.
@Dano Siorain: Ref should be locked up. Brutal performance. Fellas got jail for less
@Dano Siorain: surely Hurley had no other option than go for goal? 2 points adrift with time up? Either way, Dublin should have kicked on after HT being a few points up and a man advantage. Credit to Cork that Dublin couldn’t do that. McCaffrey made a difference immediately and McCarthy’s experience was valuable. Nothing much is won or lost in Feb though …
Why does John Cleary’s “sending offs” deserve a (sic) while Dessie Farrell’s doesn’t?
@Declan Murphy: And, on top of that, the author writes: “Dublin boss Dessie Farrell also felt the red cards call (sic) were ‘soft’”. The “sic” in this case is mine. If you’re going to be a fussy author, at least get your own grammar correct!
@Thomas O’ Donnell: excellent comment
@Declan Murphy: Pedant
In all my years I’ve never seen two worse red cards than today. God help us if this is where football is heading. The first one is shere comedy
@Tom Collins: they were both second yellows, not straight reds. Speaking here as a Corkman, but Maguire was an idiot. He was on a yellow and pulled the guys jersey straight in front of the ref. Not the hardest tug but still a jersey pull . Nothing unusual in giving a yellow card for a jersey tug. Gannon I thought was unlucky though he did turn the shoulder a little into the Cork player. I have also seen social media comments about the Cork disallowed goal but looking at that one it seemed the guys foot was just in the square. Marginal but not unfair.
Jack doesn’t seem to have lost any speed,bring it on
Meanwhile in Tuam, blatant cynical fouling went unpunished by the referee. No consistency in refereeing.
Meanwhile in Tuam, blatant cynical fouling by Tyrone went unpunished. No consistency in refereeing.
@Peter Daly: could u repeat that again ?
@IrishOwl: Please?
@Peter Daly: You should see what the Armagh boys got away with again yesterday.
If a lot of cards and sendings off improve the quality of the game overall, then referees should persist.It is a physical game but too often you see it being reduced to nasty cynical ‘tackles’ because winning at literally all costs has become far more important than the quality of the game. Besides, these are ‘amateur’ players who can’t afford to be off work for six weeks because they got an elbow in the face or a broken leg.
@Barrycelona: agreed. I thought it was noticeable that the game flowed a bit better when both were reduced to 14. More space of course but nonetheless. The players are so fit now that sometimes it’s not noticeable at all