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22nd Sep 2017

How officials dealt with a black card in All-Ireland semi-final replay is a joke

Will this spell the end of the black card?

Darragh Culhane

It’s all on the line.

Kerry are looking to claw back the lead Mayo have built up against them, you wouldn’t put it past them.

The Kingdom can strike at any time, especially when you have James O’Donoghue and Paul Geaney standing either side of Kieran Donaghy.

It didn’t pan out that way, Mayo ran out the victors in the end and whether Darran O’Sullivan remaining on the pitch or not would have changed that remains to be seen.

The one-time All-Star came on at halftime only to be black carded nine minutes later to the bewilderment of many, including himself.

O’Sullivan was speaking at the launch of Sky Sports GAA Grassroots on Thursday and opened up on his frustration of the incident looking back:

“I kept getting asked what it was for and I couldn’t answer so there was a bit of frustration on my part so I was sick of that question because I didn’t know the answer,” said the Glenbeigh-Glencar man.

“I think people saw it then and were kind of going it’s a joke of a call, it’s the joys of Gaelic football, you don’t get an answer on the field.

“If you saw my reaction it was the first time I ever reacted like that and that was all from not getting an answer why I got a black card, I was frustrated.

“After coming straight back after the club scene my form wasn’t where I wanted it and then I started playing up to myself really only the three, four or five weeks beforehand so I was just only starting to feel good again and start playing well and I thought ‘I can make an impact here’, that was taken away from me with no explanation so that’s why I got so pissed off with it.

“I did (ask the referee at the time), I said ‘What’s that for?’ and I got blanked, the rest is history and I got a suspension then on top of it,” O’Sullivan concluded.

Since the black card has come in it has not been without its critics with many complaining about the inconsistency in which it is brandished and there have been calls to scrap it all together.

O’Sullivan’s tale is just one of the many stories of bizarre decisions, whether it be a Kildare goalkeeper or Michael Murphy. 

Sky Sports announced it is partnering with the GAA on three major grassroots initiatives which will see the broadcaster invest a total of €3m over five years. Today’s announcement was made alongside the launch of The GAA Super Games Centres at GAA National Games Development Centre, Abbotstown; the first of the three grassroots initiatives that Sky Sports will support. Dublin player and newly crowned All Ireland champion Con O’Callaghan and Sky mentors Carla Rowe and Darran O’Sullivan were in attendance to announce Sky Sports’ new grassroots partnership with the GAA.

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