REFEREE MAURICE DEEGAN has admitted that he made a mistake in not showing a black card to Dublin defender John Small in this year’s All-Ireland final replay.
The Laois man showed black cards in that clash between Dublin and Mayo to Jonny Cooper, Lee Keegan and Rob Hennelly.
But he has showed honesty in freely admitting today that he failed to properly penalise Small for a hand trip on Mayo’s Andy Moran in the early stages of the game.
“In my view, I’m happy that I got the three of them right,” Deegan remarked when speaking to RTÉ Radio Sport today in Croke Park.
“But I will say one thing, I definitely missed the black card that I should have got – that was in the first five minutes of the game.
“It was John Small on Andy Moran. I wasn’t 100% sure that I saw it.
“We were wired up. Obviously, when you come to Croke Park your umpires and everyone is wired up.
“I would have asked my linesman did he see it, and he said he didn’t see it clearly.
“When you don’t see it clearly – and especially from where I was standing, I couldn’t see it clearly either – I asked the umpires and no one had seen it properly, they weren’t 100% sure.
“When you’re giving a black card in situations like that, you have to be 100% sure, especially with the black card.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
