Colm Boyle is fit to take anything thrown at him on a football pitch.
He dishes out punishment, he’s not shy in telling you what he’s thinking, and he ploughs into danger as if he’s not even doing it for the love of his county, but just rather for the thrill of it all.
During the first half of another captivating battle between Mayo and Dublin, skirmishes were breaking out all over Jones’ Road and, naturally, Colm Boyle wasn’t too far away from the thick of it all.
In one instance though, he was innocent enough and on the receiving end of some bad blood.
Mayo won a free down in the corner beneath the Hogan Stand and, as customary, the guy closest has to haul-ass to the opposition player with the ball and get it back as aggressively as possible. Boyle took the ball away from Eoghan O’Gara but ended up on the ground after further coming-togethers.
O’Gara didn’t leave it there.
He bent down and grabbed a hold of Boyle’s face.
A lot of Mayo fans – and, let’s face it, fans of anyone but Dublin – pointed out the apparent infraction that went unpunished.
Despite some claims that there was a gouge on Boyle’s eye, there certainly didn’t seem to look like any.
But, when it comes down to it, what are you doing grabbing a man by the face like that?
There wasn’t much appetite for cards then though.
Perhaps inconsistent refereeing like this is important to remember when blaming Donal Vaughan for picking up a red card. Yes, John Small got a second yellow for an incident that led to Vaughan clattering him but it isn’t unfair to assume that McQuillan might’ve spared Small if he wasn’t going to punish Vaughan. But giving out two red cards, his job was made easier. He mightn’t have made the big decision if it was just John Small there to be punished on his own.
Just like he took no action against O’Gara.
