JOHN CAULFIELD HAS played down a row in which Derry boss Kenny Shiels claimed that he was subjected to sectarian abuse by a member of the Cork City staff on Friday night.
There was drama on the field at Turner’s Cross, as two late goals saw the hosts earn a last-gasp victory.
Kenny Browne’s decisive injury-time goal prompted angry scenes on the sideline, with Shiels claiming he was subjected to sectarian abuse during the dispute.
“They got the assistance of the referee, which was disappointing. The referees are only human and they do make mistakes,” Shiels said in an interview with RTÉ Sport.
There seemed to be some kind of (element) of getting carried away with the crowd and making decisions that were definitely favouring the home team and I was really disappointed in that.
“I went over to the referee and I said ‘ref, surely you seen that was a goal kick — it wasn’t a corner’.
“And that’s the way I said it. I wasn’t angry or shouting at him.
“He says ‘look, if I made a mistake I’ll admit it, I’ll have a look at it on Monday,’ which is fair enough, that was good.
“But John (Caulfield) starts to shout ‘we played you off the park’ and then one of them called me a sectarian name…”
However, Caulfield subsequently played down the incident, saying: ”I don’t know anything about that. I think it was a storm in a teacup.
I think Kenny was quite agitated at the end with the referee and with maybe some of our staff and whatever.
“Look it, I’ve seen a hundred things way worse. That’s the first I’ve heard of that.
“I think it was just excitement. He was obviously really disappointed.
“We were excited and probably some of our management were excited.
“At the same time there was nothing in it and I’m surprised with that comment.”
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