WITH ARMAGH CONSIDERING an appeal around a proposed suspension for Rian O’Neill after his red card against Tyrone, the incident itself has been called into question by the former Armagh forward – and O’Neill’s uncle – Oisín McConville.
O’Neill was dismissed by referee Martin McNally after he consulted with his linesman James Molloy. Camera angles showed that O’Neill had a knee bearing down on the head of Tyrone defender, Cormac Quinn.
However, McConville felt the incident was not worthy of a red card, insisting that the camera pictures were inconclusive.
Speaking on BBC Northern Ireland’s ‘GAA Social’ podcast, the current Wicklow manager stated, “I didn’t think there was a big pile in it to be honest.”
He went on, “I’m not making excuses for Rian. One of the things I was told at the start of the year by the referees’ committee was that they were going to protect the better players and they are just not doing that.”
“He gets no protection whatsoever.
“People say because he’s bigger than everyone else and stronger that he should be able to take it and all that… pure nonsense. You either protect the player or you don’t.”
He also raised questions over the ability of referees to keep up with the pace
“When teams transition now, you are talking about guys who can do 100 metres in 11 or 12 seconds.
“The referee is not going to keep up with that. Referees are making decisions from 60 and 70 yards away and that makes it very, very difficult.”
Despite the defeat for Armagh, McConville still feels that they delivered a performance.
“Armagh really and truly had enough chances to win. The couple of goal chances they had early on… it was just criminal [missing them]. That’s the difference between winning and losing as it’s the difference about how you go about playing,” he said.
“But realistically [after O'Neill's red card], Tyrone should have seen that game out quite comfortably and yet if Oisin Conaty is able to get his toe to that ball that Niall Morgan dropped [late in the game], Armagh would have scrambled a draw and then the conversation changes completely.
“For 10 minutes of the game you were thinking ‘these boys can really challenge [for an All-Ireland]‘ but I couldn’t believe the drop-off in Tyrone in the second half.
“Granted, it would not surprise you if Tyrone or Armagh met a Galway or Kerry at some stage and were able to put in a performance and beat them.
“But it’s the consistency of performance and that’s why it’s difficult to see either of those teams winning an All-Ireland, whereas you think Kerry could put those games back to back.”
