CIAN O’NEILL HAS voiced his frustration with referee David Gough after Eoin Doyle was sent-off just 14 minutes into their Division 1 defeat to Donegal.
Doyle was dismissed on two yellow cards, the second of which arrived after he lost his gumshield in a tackle and was instructed by Gough to get a replacement.
But the referee failed to stop the play and as Doyle made his way to the sideline, Kildare goalkeeper Mark Donnellan picked out the centre-back with a kick-out.
Doyle caught the restart and Gough duly booked him, before he realised the defender was already on a yellow and sent him off.
“When you think of the sequence of events and how it happened, it is shocking,” the Kildare boss told RTÉ Radio 1′s Sunday Sport afterwards.
“To be fair, in the first instance, Eoin’s mouthguard got knocked out when he hit a hard shoulder, so the referee gave him the opportunity to go to the sideline to get one.
“But he didn’t stop the game and let everyone know. No more than a bloodsub or a black card – you don’t restart the game until the player is off the pitch for treatment or gets carded.
O’Neill continued: “Eoin shouted over to us, ‘Lads, I need a mouthguard.’ He was coming over to get a mouthguard and the linesman was well aware of that because he was right beside me.
“Our goalkeeper was unaware of it, because why would he know, the linesman said he didn’t even know. The ball was kicked out and, since you were four years of age, if someone kicks a ball at you your natural reaction is to go for it. The ball was kicked to Eoin as he was coming off the pitch and he just caught it.
“The referee gave him a yellow card. I told the linesman to tell the referee he was coming to get his mouthguard but there was zero communication there. Which is not good practice in my mind there.
“To compound things then, the referee did not even realise he had given him a yellow card and allowed play to carry on. I mean, how many mistakes does it take to get things right? I don’t know anymore,” he added.
“If you are going to ask a player to leave the pitch for any reason, then stop the play. Let him get off the pitch and then signal to the goalkeeper to restart the play.”
Wearing a mouth guard has been compulsory in Gaelic football since 2014 for insurance purposes, with a yellow card the punishment if a player fails to wear one once instructed by the referee.
Despite the rule, a large number of players don’t wear a gumshield during games.
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