Kerry GAA manager Peter Keane has said that his side will look to appeal Stephen O’Brien’s pending suspension after the forward picked up his third black card in the last 12 months during the Kingdom’s All-Ireland semi-final win over Tyrone on Sunday.
O’Brien scored 1-2 and was awarded the man-of-the-match honours but picked up a black card in the 76th minute for a blatant pull down on Connor McAliskey.
O’Brien’s first black card was against Galway in the league (yellow then black for a red) while his second came last Saturday against Meath in Navan.
His third against Tyrone rules him out of next month’s All-Ireland final with Dublin but Keane insists that Kerry will look to appeal the suspension.
“I suppose if there’s a possibility of appealing it we will,” Keane said in his post-match interview.
“You want everybody that you can possibly have. Stephen is no different. He did well today. There’s ebbs and flows with every panel.
“You’d be down training on a Tuesday night and some fella picks up a knock and another fella who isn’t with us today could be with us the next day.
“But look that’s a panel and that’s why you develop a panel.”
Peter Keane with the most Kerry start to an interview ever…
"Yerra look…"pic.twitter.com/3nrqwAh9dc
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) August 11, 2019
O’Brien himself seemed confident of appeal and insists the black card he received against Meath may have been a bit harsh.
“I think the black card in the Meath game was very harsh. I was running off the ball and it was an accidental clash so we’ll certainly be looking to appeal that one,” he said in his post-match television interview with RTE.
Judge for yourself whether Stephen O’Brien’s black card should get overturned
