WHEN A RED card is shown to a player who is only seconds on the pitch, it’s bound to provoke some attention.
Limerick’s Seanie Tobin only had a brief involvement in yesterday’s Munster hurling quarter-final, as he was sent-off just seconds after coming on as a substitute in Thurles following this altercation with Clare’s Patrick O’Connor.
Tobin’s Limerick teammates weren’t too happy with the decision.
Shane Dowling branded the rule ‘stupid’.
“Well I think first of all, the rule has to go because I got done for it against Offaly and it wasn’t a red card. Seanie Tobin got done for it there and it wasn’t a red card, Brendan Bugler got done for it against Wexford and it wasn’t a red card.
“It’s a stupid rule. If they want to bring in some padding or something, let them on. It’s a game of hurling and I don’t blame Colm Lyons and I don’t blame the referees; it’s the hierarchy that are bringing that in.”
Gavin O’Mahony echoed Dowling’s views.
“I thought Seanie’s one was very harsh. That goes on in every inter-county game up and down the country. There’s no one injured, there’s no wild stroke. I think players expect that, they like the bit of contact. A crowd come to watch a game.
“Fellas are going at it, there’s nothing wild, there’s no one going to get killed. Let the game flow. I’m not advocating a fella to be wild or dirty but a fella is training like that all year off his own steam, to come on and be straight back off, it would want to be very bad.”
O’Mahony has sympathy for Tobin who is now set to be suspended for the semi-final clash with Tipperary.
“He’s after a rough couple of months to be fair. His dad died and things just are going against him. He’d an injury or two.
“It’s very disappointing because he’s a good lad with us. He’s been on and off the team. When he hasn’t been on it, he’s took it very well and forced his way back onto the team.”