CLARE JOINT MANAGER Gerry O’Connor was in the spotlight in yesterday’s Munster championship tie after a first-half incident involving Cork player Daniel Kearney.
Midway through the opening half the altercation occurred after the awarding of a disputed sideline, O’Connor getting involved after Kearney and Clare defender Cathal Malone had challenged each other.
The Sunday Game panel on the Gerry O'Connor incident during #CLACOR #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/qm7w9zIDHP
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 16, 2019
Malone received treatment before resuming his place in the Clare side, Kearney was shown a yellow card and O’Connor was sent to the stand by referee Paud O’Dwyer.
The incident was debated on The Sunday Game last night.
“Gerry O’Connor gets involved and to me it’s an absolute no-no,” stated ex-Kilkenny player and current Laois manager Eddie Brennan.
“You just cannot handle a player when you’re an official. I think what we’re seeing here is the pressure of the occasion. Gerry O’Connor normally, I’ve never seen him this irate.
“Maybe it’s indicative of just the occasion and the situation Clare find themselves in. We saw it in Nowlan Park a couple of years ago where Davy Fitzgerald got penalised for doing that and rightly so.”
Cork All-Ireland winning goalkeeper and former Clare coach Donal Óg Cusack also commented on the incident.
“I think Cork showed fantastic discipline when that happened. There’s no excuse for a manager of the opposing team. For Cork the argument might be made that they needed to be more aggressive but I think they were right to err on the side of that and put it into the bank and don’t forget what happened in Ennis today.”
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