For the second All-Ireland final running, the thorny issue of black cards has cropped up.
In the drawn game James McCarthy saw the line and lots of people asked why Michael Darragh MacAuley and Cillian O’Connor did not.
It doesn’t help when Ger Canning and Martin Carney are on commentary duties for RTÉ, the topic of black cards is never far from their minds.
Martin Carney and Ger Canning chat Black Cards #GAA #DUBvMAYO pic.twitter.com/JdTTZXYMSj
— Mikey Stafford (@me_stafford) October 1, 2016
In today’s pulsating replay, Jonny Cooper was shown a black card by Maurice Deegan for a hand trip on Donal Vaughan. Lee Keegan was also black carded for a pull-down on Diarmuid Connolly at the end of the first half.
If Cooper’s looked a little harsh, it also made it all the more mystifying why Cooper’s team-mate John Small did not get the same punishment for an earlier incident involving Andy Moran.
Receiving the ball on his own 21-yard line there seemed to be little danger.
But he spilled the ball, allowing Moran to compete.
The ball spilled goalwards and Moran literally runs over the Dublin defender.
Moran stumbles but has forward momentum and a clear run on the goal, with Small out of the game.
Then Small appears to grab Moran’s ankle with a separate action, as they say in rugby.
Deegan gives a free but Small avoids a black card.
Needless to say, Twitter had an opinion.
https://twitter.com/boneill662/status/782251045766520832
once again a disgraceful piece of officiating exact same thing missed last week
— Martin Mc Gurk (@MartinMcGurk) October 1, 2016
The GAA need the sin bin instead of the black card. You want the best players playing the big games, Dublin bias aside.
— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) October 1, 2016
it's the inconsistency with the referees too, John Small's trip at the start was more of a black card than Johnny Coopers.
— Adrian Murphy (@MurphyAJ7) October 1, 2016
He let John small off with the most obvious black card going
— daniel o callaghan (@call24meelin) October 1, 2016
Innocuous tackle from Cooper leads to #BlackCard. Small's black card incident a lot more clear cut. Time to dispense with it! #DUBvMAYO
— John FitzGerald (@Jdbfitzgerald) October 1, 2016
Did Jonny Cooper pay the price for Small’s escape?
Will it be Mayo (or the Dubs) 4 Sam? Wooly, Paul Galvin and Conán Doherty preview Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay.
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