We could play a game of he said, she said all day but there are some things that should be highlighted.
Number one: Michael Darragh MacAuley should’ve been black-carded. His offence was literally the very reason why the rule was brought in in the first place.
Number two: Whether you think O’Connor made a meal of it or not, James McCarthy’s decision to run over and body check the Mayo man off the ball in front of the referee was pretty foolish. If it was soft or if it was innocuous, it was still a third man tackle and gave the ref a decision to make just moments after he made the wrong decision. Either the black card rule should be applied or not at all.
James McCarthy was given the black card for this incident pic.twitter.com/iOpixdmsnY
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) September 18, 2016
Then, you have the Cillian O’Connor incident.
In injury time, with Dublin up by one point, with Dublin in possession of the ball and on the attack, the Ballintubber forward – who’d go on to be the hero of the day – drags Darren Daly to ground seemingly intentionally and he gets up and runs back into position to get ready to try and turn the ball over.
It was a classic case.
Again, like the MacAuley incident, it looked cynical, it looked deliberate, and it was effective at stopping the Dublin counter-attack dead in its tracks.
Martin Carney tries the old “sure it’s too late in the game for a black card now” trick (I’m paraphrasing). WAS IT A BLACK CARD OR NOT? It doesn’t matter if there’s three seconds gone or three seconds left. What’s the point in having the rule if we’re not going to apply it?
So, in the 73rd minute, this was allowed to happen.
Darren Daly comes through the middle of the field with loads of space but he’s thwarted illegally.
The referee, like the MacAuley incident, gives the free but he mustn’t have actually seen what the offence was for because, if he’s giving a free for that, he should be giving a black card for that.
Daly’s away but O’Connor gets a grip of him with both hands.
Then he leans on him a little bit.
Then he takes flight, holding onto Daly for balance.
Eventually, his weight begins to tell on the Dubliner.
And both of them go down.
The game went on, four minutes of injury time were still left. Conor Lane wasn’t interested in this event and O’Connor survived.
And Cillian O'Connor avoids a sure black. #GAA
— John Fogarty (@JohnFogartyIrl) September 18, 2016
Then, three minutes later, the Mayo captain came good. He stepped up, he rose up, and he dropped the f**king mic.
If ever a Gaelic footballer dropped the mic, this was the moment https://t.co/DUq71ElT0e #GAA #Mayo
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 18, 2016
That was a glorious moment but, if the referee had officiated properly, O’Connor wouldn’t have been there to do it.
It wasn’t the only piece of injustice but it’s probably just worth highlighting that the Dubs weren’t the only side to feel aggrieved.
The GAA Hour podcast is out every Monday and Thursday. Subscribe here on iTunes or listen on Soundcloud (if you want to).
