KERRY LEGEND TOMÁS Ó Sé was less than impressed by Donal Vaughan’s moment of madness in yesterday’s All-Ireland senior football final.
The Mayo star was dismissed in the 48th minute for a high challenge on Dublin’s John Small, who was about to be sent off himself for a second bookable offence.
It was a critical moment and Ó Sé, along with fellow panellists Kevin McStay and Ciaran Whelan, felt it had a big influence on the game.
Ó Sé said: “The scoreline is 1-9 to 0-11 in favour of the Dubs, you’re 12 minutes into the second half.
“John Small is already on a yellow card and there’s no doubt this is a (second) yellow card, straight into Colm Boyle’s chest.
Now, I don’t know what Vaughan was thinking of. Mayo were in a scoring position. It is tough on him, to get sent off in All-Ireland final, but this is WWE stuff, clothes-line straight away and it’s ridiculous really.
“What he has done is, Mayo have a numerical advantage going into the last quarter of the game, still in a great, great position.
“Straight away, you’ve just taken away that advantage. It’s a silly thing, he’ll regret it but it was a key moment in the game. There’s no doubt it was a red.”
Former Mayo star and current Roscommon boss McStay said: “If you put minutes on it, that’s in the 48th minute, he (referee Joe McQuillan) blew up in the 79th.
That’s half an hour where Mayo could have had the extra man and it would have been incredibly helpful.”
Ó Sé insisted: “Mayo are around so long, they would make that extra man count.”
And former Dublin star Whelan noted: “Going down to 14-a-side suited Dublin – particularly with the lads and the impact off the bench that they had, that Mayo didn’t have.”
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