We need to talk about Diarmuid

[From the Bunker]

Way off topic here but you Mayo guys are unreal, look at this youtube clip. It has KK's red card in slow motion. It is absolutely crystal clear that KK struck MM with an open handed slap...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlPbGHVA8FU

Yeah, 100% Keane landed a slap! Very clever disguised box by Murphy also!

[Il Bomber Destro]

Bomber u say attempting to strike is a straight red card in the keane incident, so how come donnelly not getting a suspension for attempting and striking in the derry game?

I've said at the time and I'll say it again.

Mattie Donnelly is a very lucky boy, he should have got a ban. I can only assume that the replays are not comprehensive enough to act on but he really needs to sort his napper out and stop doing ridiculous things like that.

[Il Bomber Destro]

Way off topic here but you Mayo guys are unreal, look at this youtube clip. It has KK's red card in slow motion. It is absolutely crystal clear that KK struck MM with an open handed slap...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlPbGHVA8FU

Definitely clear in this video, however Murphy should also have received a red in this case.

Why?

He has a hold of Keane's jersey, he doesn't throw a punch or strike a player.

Yellow for Murphy, red for Keane would have been the correct call there. If some lad grabs your jersey or gives you a bit of a shove and you react like Keane did and take a swing then you're looking at a red card. Brainless stuff from Keane at the time.

[From the Bunker]

Really looking forward to what Dublin GAA Solicitors come up with. They will come up with something successful. I'd say Diarmuid has his own personal Johnnie Cochran (OJ Simpson lawyer) at this stage. They'll wear the poor auld GAA boys out with this technicality and that technicality that they'll just give up like they have in the past. To be fair I'd say a lot of Referees bottle big calls (like Diarmuids the last day) because it is full of baggage you have to deal with after the final whistle is blown!

[Beffs]

In fairness most Dubs I've spoken to all think he deserves his ban and are disgusted that at this stage of his career he's still making such silly decisions.

I just watched it again on youtube

A few things to note
1. As soon as the ball goes out the linesman had his flag up to say Carlow ball
2. Connolly ignores or doesn't see that and tries to grab the ball anyway
3. Three Carlow lads try to take the ball back off him but to no avail
4. Connolly doesn't seem to have any issue with the Carlow players but immediately starts shouting at the linesman.
5. He walks over to him and doesn't just put his hand on his shoulder but he pushes him back 3 steps as he isn't happy with his decision.
6. Look at the reaction of the Carlow guy in yellow which tells you he thought he attacked the linesman


One of the many reasons I think this happened is that the Dubs aren't too used to playing outside of Croke Park and as most teams know when you play in an away venue (or neutral as here) you don't always get your own way. Some players feel they have to stand up for themselves a lot more because of this. If this match was in croker I bet you DC would not have felt it necessary to react like that but that away from home feeling sometimes makes player make rash decisions.

As for the argument that the ref and linesman didn't feel at the time it was that bad, I think they are well entitled to change their mind after having another look at it.
Yes there might have been worse incidents before, that went unpunished but they got to make a stand against this behaviour at some point and the fact 2 earlier instances this year have been punished I think it's vital that they continue down this road.

He has gotten himself into hot water, plenty of times in Croke Park. Don't think the venue had anything to do with it. If it was a game in Kerry, or Castlebar, or Ballybofey, in a closely contested game, against one of Dublins biggest rivals, where the locals were hot to trot...then yeah, maybe...but a game in Portlaoise, against Carlow? I just don't see it.

He is what he is and he does what he does, because he is complete head banger, space cadet, loo la, whatever you want to call him...who can't control his temper. What is going on between his ears is the problem, not the post code of the match venue.

[Il Bomber Destro]

How many bans have stuck in the past few years, particularly at the business end of Championship?

Connolly got his overturned in 2011.
Gormley had his overturned in 2013, Penrose had his suspensions upheld.
Keegan had his overturned in 2014.
Connolly and Keane had their bans overturned in 2015. McCann also having a trumped up charge overturned.

There were a lot of nasty incidents in that Mayo-Dublin game in 2015 that really should have been punished, none more so than Johnny Cooper's stamp on Diarmuid O'Connor.

Of all those appeals only really Gormley (didn't punch Mone just pushed Mone's hand into his own face - very crafty) and McCann (yellow card offence by the rules) were justifiable.
Keegan in 2014 and Connolly in 2011 were harsh red cards and the referee at the time could have exercised a bit of common sense but in accordances to the rules, they were both justifiable red cards and once the referee took up that action then they should have stood.
Keane's in 2015 was unbelievable as it was a cut and dry red card.
Connolly's did have the self defence angle to it but I wouldn't really buy it, probably evened itself out though with Cillian O'Connor not getting cited for elbowing Rory O'Carroll though.
Penrose red in 2013 was valid and Tyrone shouldn't have appealed it.

[lenny]

Dublin would want to have someone with a better defence than yours representing them at the appeal.
As it is bollox.

Interesting you take that view because joe brolly has made exactly the same argument as me on twitter and takes the view that connolly is likely to get off. The officials have already adjudicated on the incident and decided that no sanction was necessary. CCCC cannot act now after the officials adjudication.

[magpie seanie]

Dublin would want to have someone with a better defence than yours representing them at the appeal.
As it is bollox.

Interesting you take that view because joe brolly has made exactly the same argument as me on twitter and takes the view that connolly is likely to get off. The officials have already adjudicated on the incident and decided that no sanction was necessary. CCCC cannot act now after the officials adjudication.

Brolly has changed tack now as (according to his ritual in the independent today) the incident is contained in the referees report. The linesman clarified it with the referee afterwards and it is recorded in the refs report. Case closed so.

[From the Bunker]

You have to love this circus! Martin Breheny and Bernie Flynn have been trying to make stories from what Aido didn't say and didn't do respectively for the last couple of weeks! The Big Mayo Lump with no All Ireland medal is an easy target. Lets make a story to fill the pages. But in steps Connolly and steals the show again! We can't imagine what a professional outfit like Dublin GAA have spent on trying to keep Connolly on the short and narrow!

[magpie seanie]

Was he just trying to get a black card so he'd hit 3 and serve a suspension in the next (meaningless) game? If those thoughts were in his head.......

[Main Street]

A few things to note
1. As soon as the ball goes out the linesman had his flag up to say Carlow ball
2. Connolly ignores or doesn't see that and tries to grab the ball anyway
3. Three Carlow lads try to take the ball back off him but to no avail
4. Connolly doesn't seem to have any issue with the Carlow players but immediately starts shouting at the linesman.
5. He walks over to him and doesn't just put his hand on his shoulder but he pushes him back 3 steps as he isn't happy with his decision.
6. Look at the reaction of the Carlow guy in yellow which tells you he thought he attacked the linesman

The one thing you're missing from your 1-6 is that it was clearly a Dublin ball. Connolly didnt look at the linesman because it was crystal clear that it was a Dublin ball. A long kick from Carlow cleared everyone and went straight over the line.
Not that it excuses Connolly in any way, but needed for some context as to why he grabbed the ball and why he was surprised that Carlow lads were jostlining him, and annoyed when he turned around to see the linesman pointing the other way. Of course Connolly should just have walked away at that point.

Fuzzman has given the accurate account as it happened. There is no justifiable context for what Connolly did. He lost his head over a nothing decision, in a flash of anger he acted out aggressively towards the official and pushed him back a few steps.
He has a pattern in this type of behavior, hasn't he? This time he just happened to push the wrong guy.

[BennyHarp]

There is absolutely no chance that Connolly will serve a 12 week ban. Surely nobody thinks that, given recent history, this will not get either overturned or significantly reduced.

[nrico2006]

Way off topic here but you Mayo guys are unreal, look at this youtube clip. It has KK's red card in slow motion. It is absolutely crystal clear that KK struck MM with an open handed slap...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlPbGHVA8FU

Definitely clear in this video, however Murphy should also have received a red in this case.

Why?

He has a hold of Keane's jersey, he doesn't throw a punch or strike a player.

Yellow for Murphy, red for Keane would have been the correct call there. If some lad grabs your jersey or gives you a bit of a shove and you react like Keane did and take a swing then you're looking at a red card. Brainless stuff from Keane at the time.

Murphy did more than simply hold his jersey and should have received worse punishment than Keane.

[greatpoint]

As a previous poster mentioned Murphy was actually very close to asphyxiating him in that clip, to release himself from death's icy grip Keane had no other option than to throw a punch. I believe he may even have suffered some mild PTSD as a result.

[Fuzzman]

Hardy said back in page 1 that the CCCC can refer incidents back to officials and ask them if, in the light of video evidence, they are happy with how they dealt with it.

Joe Brolly said "Once it's in the referee's report then the CCCC are entitled to act on it. If it hadn't been in the report there was a serious problem. The CCCC would have had great difficulty in dealing with it because it would be usurping the referee's function."

So go back to Hardy's point if the ref hadn't mentioned it in his report does the CCCC have no power to ask the ref to look at video evidence afterwards?

Why don't they just change this rule to allow the CCCC to look into any incident using video evidence and ask the referee to review his decision.