He should not have raised a hand but no-one expected to see him walk.
Darren Hughes has revealed he was in a state of shock when he was issued a red card for his brief encounter with Tyrone’s Tiernan McCann.
The Monaghan half forward was sent off during his side’s All-Ireland quarter final exit, on Sunday.
Hughes ruffled Hughes’ hair but the young Tyrone forward hit the deck as if he had been struck with a lusty blow.
‘I genuinely couldn’t believe it,’ Hughes told The Irish Exaniner.
‘I knew straight away there was no point arguing with Marty Duffy, he wasn’t going to change his decision. I think he has a lot to… look, he was looking straight at it.’
The morning after their exit, the Farney man took a light-hearted approach, on Twitter, to the red card – sending out a picture of himself ruffling his dog’s hair.
In his Examiner interview, Hughes added, ‘All three parties are probably accountable for what happened,’ he added. ‘Myself, McCann and the referee. But it was a far cry from a sending-off. No way.
‘It was a bit of verbals, nothing serious. I went over and tapped him on the head. Everyone could see there was no malice in it.’
Hughes believes that neither himself, McCann nor Duffy did themselves any favours.
He continued, ‘[McCann] went down and that was that, that was his reaction, he probably feels it paid off as I got the line. It’s disappointing and I obviously didn’t feel it was a red card.’
