Galway fans will be delighted though.
Shane McGuigan received a red card against Roscommon last weekend for reasons that appear to be invisible to those with common sense and eyesight.
After a very soft yellow card earlier in the game, the Slaughtneil man was given his marching orders right at the very end of the match.
The game was at a draw with 12 points apiece, McGuigan had been hitting the frees all day and was in fine form, but when Derry broke for one last attack, he was brought down off the ball by the Roscommon defender.
With no need to get involved, and with the fact that the oak leaf county were awarded a score able free at the other end, the Ulsterman simply took the tackle and kept his hands up to show he didn’t want to be involved.
Unbelievably however, the linesman told the referee that McGuigan was guilty of something, so he received his yellow and sent off the pitch, meaning he couldn’t take the free that was there to win the game.
Emmet Bradley instead took it and missed, meaning the game ended in a draw, but that isn’t the end of the bad news for those in red and white.
Many assumed that this clear referring mistake would be ratified, and that after an appeal process, McGuigan would be free to play in the promotion decider against Galway this weekend.
However, even with the added benefit of video replays, the appeal has been rejected, meaning that the Oakleaf county have to go up against the Tribesmen without their star forward.
This was already a daunting enough task given the fact that Padraig Joyce’s men are the only team in all four divisions to maintain a 100% record so far this year.
