The referee in the Ireland match used to be an awful lot stricter on high challenges

Where's the consistency?

The Republic of Ireland lost 3-0 to Belgium on Saturday afternoon in Bordeaux, and deservedly so. Martin O'Neill's side came up short in every aspect, and can have no complaints about the final result. However, the game could have taken a different path if the referee had awarded Ireland a penalty for what appeared to be a clear foul on Shane Long.

And another contender, different angle on the Long challenges, via @endabolger (Bit of cropping and it's a blinder) pic.twitter.com/kcULoVMLJo

— sportingintelligence (@sportingintel) June 18, 2016

Cuneyt Cakir deemed this to not be a foul:

Shane Long'a yapılan bu harekette İrlanda penaltı bekledi, Cüneyt Çakır devam ettirdi. #IRL #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/6vj0lpGsvD — Fanatik Video (@VideoFanatik) June 18, 2016

Belgium broke away and Romelu Lukaku slotted home from the edge of Ireland's penalty area. The game was then up and Ireland would concede another two goals. However, back in March 2013, Cakir sent off Nani in Manchester United's Champions League tie against Real Madrid for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz-6n7IM6dw The decision infuriated United fans and then-manager Alex Ferguson. United had been leading 1-0 in the game, 2-1 on aggregate, but would go on to lose the tie and crash out of Europe. Interestingly, current Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane was one of the few at the time to claim the referee made the right call. We doubt he feels the same about the decision to not award Long a penalty on Saturday.