Donegal vs Armagh Ulster Championship 2022

[yellowcard]

Heard about Rian O'Neills likely suspension over the weekend, I'm not sure if it has been confirmed anywhere yet but looking at the video it was always going to happen once the CCC looked into it. Donegals smile from last week must be a full blown laugh at this stage.  According to people at the match they instigated the row and have now got a massive result with 4 key players for Armagh suspended. Their 2 joint captains, a key midfielder and Soupy who is one of the 4 best forwards in the county.

The timing is horrible with the fact that the next game is a championship match and the key match of the season. There is plenty of blame to go around from an Armagh viewpoint but it is going to make an already tough game even harder now.   

[Average Score]

If contributing to a melee warrants a ban and from video evidence only Rian is further punished - the whole thing is a joke, then again how the ref only picked out 5 players and them 5 in the first place is also a joke he must have stood in one spot.

[David McKeown]

Isn't there a separate melee thread for Armagh, Tyrone and now Donegal.

It wouldn't be right to pile into a melee thread.

This is genuinely one of the funniest things I've read on this board in quite some time. Well played sir well played

[keeperlit]

Isn't there a separate melee thread for Armagh, Tyrone and now Donegal.

It wouldn't be right to pile into a melee thread.

🤣🤣brilliant

[skeog]

No sympathy for the Orchard men the masters of the dark arts what goes round comes around as they say.

[lenny]

Heard about Rian O'Neills likely suspension over the weekend, I'm not sure if it has been confirmed anywhere yet but looking at the video it was always going to happen once the CCC looked into it. Donegals smile from last week must be a full blown laugh at this stage.  According to people at the match they instigated the row and have now got a massive result with 4 key players for Armagh suspended. Their 2 joint captains, a key midfielder and Soupy who is one of the 4 best forwards in the county.

The timing is horrible with the fact that the next game is a championship match and the key match of the season. There is plenty of blame to go around from an Armagh viewpoint but it is going to make an already tough game even harder now.

We all want to watch the best players playing in the championship and Rian is one of the best at the moment. Why not just have league sendings off mean suspension from league matches and championship red cards applying to championship. Given the knock out and one off nature of championship it seems unfair to miss big games like this because of a game at the end of the league.

[thewobbler]

Heard about Rian O'Neills likely suspension over the weekend, I'm not sure if it has been confirmed anywhere yet but looking at the video it was always going to happen once the CCC looked into it. Donegals smile from last week must be a full blown laugh at this stage.  According to people at the match they instigated the row and have now got a massive result with 4 key players for Armagh suspended. Their 2 joint captains, a key midfielder and Soupy who is one of the 4 best forwards in the county.

The timing is horrible with the fact that the next game is a championship match and the key match of the season. There is plenty of blame to go around from an Armagh viewpoint but it is going to make an already tough game even harder now.

We all want to watch the best players playing in the championship and Rian is one of the best at the moment. Why not just have league sendings off mean suspension from league matches and championship red cards applying to championship. Given the knock out and one off nature of championship it seems unfair to miss big games like this because of a game at the end of the league.

See I read stuff like that as "let's only worry about discipline when it suits us".

Imho it's the single biggest problem with Gaelic Games. I've no interest in watching a sanitised version of the games. But people don't want standards. They want get out clauses.

[HokeyPokey]

Heard about Rian O'Neills likely suspension over the weekend, I'm not sure if it has been confirmed anywhere yet but looking at the video it was always going to happen once the CCC looked into it. Donegals smile from last week must be a full blown laugh at this stage.  According to people at the match they instigated the row and have now got a massive result with 4 key players for Armagh suspended. Their 2 joint captains, a key midfielder and Soupy who is one of the 4 best forwards in the county.

The timing is horrible with the fact that the next game is a championship match and the key match of the season. There is plenty of blame to go around from an Armagh viewpoint but it is going to make an already tough game even harder now.

We all want to watch the best players playing in the championship and Rian is one of the best at the moment. Why not just have league sendings off mean suspension from league matches and championship red cards applying to championship. Given the knock out and one off nature of championship it seems unfair to miss big games like this because of a game at the end of the league.

I don't think the CCC should consider a player's talent as far as suspensions are concerned. Shows a serious lack of discipline and tact for Armagh to have got involved in that in a game which was over and had no impact on them. For all their good early performances in the league, they could have blown their championship before a ball has been kicked.

[twohands!!!]

Heard about Rian O'Neills likely suspension over the weekend, I'm not sure if it has been confirmed anywhere yet but looking at the video it was always going to happen once the CCC looked into it. Donegals smile from last week must be a full blown laugh at this stage.  According to people at the match they instigated the row and have now got a massive result with 4 key players for Armagh suspended. Their 2 joint captains, a key midfielder and Soupy who is one of the 4 best forwards in the county.

The timing is horrible with the fact that the next game is a championship match and the key match of the season. There is plenty of blame to go around from an Armagh viewpoint but it is going to make an already tough game even harder now.

We all want to watch the best players playing in the championship and Rian is one of the best at the moment. Why not just have league sendings off mean suspension from league matches and championship red cards applying to championship. Given the knock out and one off nature of championship it seems unfair to miss big games like this because of a game at the end of the league.

The level of punishment for rule-breaking in the GAA is already phenomenally low and you want to reduce it further.
Mind-boggling.
If you reduce the level of punishment, the level of foul play will increase.
If you want to reduce the level of foul play increase the level of punishment.

[LCohen]

I presume there will be the customary appeal. This one might actually work. The video is not definitive. I think he is guilty of striking and the video certainly doesn't prove him innocent. But whereas I think he is likely to be guilty is the test not "certainty"? Is so you would find it hard to prove that there isn't at least room for doubt.

But I am not holding out for it and I'm not dragging any anti-armagh or anti-northerner bias into the equation. It's a tight one

[lenny]

Heard about Rian O'Neills likely suspension over the weekend, I'm not sure if it has been confirmed anywhere yet but looking at the video it was always going to happen once the CCC looked into it. Donegals smile from last week must be a full blown laugh at this stage.  According to people at the match they instigated the row and have now got a massive result with 4 key players for Armagh suspended. Their 2 joint captains, a key midfielder and Soupy who is one of the 4 best forwards in the county.

The timing is horrible with the fact that the next game is a championship match and the key match of the season. There is plenty of blame to go around from an Armagh viewpoint but it is going to make an already tough game even harder now.

We all want to watch the best players playing in the championship and Rian is one of the best at the moment. Why not just have league sendings off mean suspension from league matches and championship red cards applying to championship. Given the knock out and one off nature of championship it seems unfair to miss big games like this because of a game at the end of the league.

See I read stuff like that as "let's only worry about discipline when it suits us".

Imho it's the single biggest problem with Gaelic Games. I've no interest in watching a sanitised version of the games. But people don't want standards. They want get out clauses.

Fair enough point. I'm not a big fan of Armagh but O'Neill is great to watch and it'll be a disappointment if he misses out. I wasn't thinking of it as an opt out clause for him this year. The rules are there and he deserves to have a suspension. Just maybe in the future league red cards should result in league suspensions and likewise for championship. Just a suggestion to throw out there without having given it a huge amount of thought.

[J70]

Personally, I'd rather Donegal face a full strength Armagh. If we lose, we lose. But if the video shows O'Neill (or anyone else, whether Murphy or whoever) striking, then it has to be dealt with.

[keeperlit]

No issue with the suspension. O’Neil has left himself exposed when he raised his hand when no 10 took a 15 yard run at him. Height of stupidity. If the authorities have reviewed it and decided to suspend him then he is suspended. The frustrating thing is the consistency. The linesman on the bank side watched (fact) Neil mcgee for two solid minutes batter, pull, drag and barge O’Neill before he did anything. He then seen murphy box grugan (fact) after the final whistle and yet there is no word of any suspensions for this. Does the referee not consult with linesmen before making his report?

Armagh need to be craftier as they were clearly drawn into an orchestrated trap with a reaction from O’Neill leading to disciplinary action been the key Donegal objective. Bonner must be laughing his balls off and you have to tip your hat to him. He has achieved his objective at a relatively cheap price and Armagh have again shown the inability to keep their discipline under trying circumstances.

[David McKeown]

I genuinely don't understand any of this.

Firstly and fundamentally I don't understand what a melee is and how you contribute to it. At what point does something become a melee, does the instigator of the melee escape punishment.  if you honestly feel you are going to be attacked can you respond is self defence as natural justice would say you should be entitled to etc etc.  I also can't think of any other team sport where an individual can receive sanction for the actions of others. The rule makes no sense to me.

Secondly the referee and other officials saw the incident and felt that only 5 players contributed to the melee which is a sending off offence but decided to send none of them off at the time.

The CCCC have then looked at that and decided that approach was incorrect (other wise the CCCC should also have cited those 5 players) but that a 6th player and no other should have been punished. How does that work out? Unless we loop back to what on earth is a melee and how do you contribute to it?

It's completely wrong to single out players involved on the basis they did more than others. It's a binary rule. Either they contributed or they didn't. I'd have a lot less issue had significantly more players been banned but the whole thing strikes me as trying to make examples of certain people which is fundamentally unfair.

[thewobbler]

I genuinely don't understand any of this.

Firstly and fundamentally I don't understand what a melee is and how you contribute to it. At what point does something become a melee, does the instigator of the melee escape punishment.  if you honestly feel you are going to be attacked can you respond is self defence as natural justice would say you should be entitled to etc etc.  I also can't think of any other team sport where an individual can receive sanction for the actions of others. The rule makes no sense to me.

Secondly the referee and other officials saw the incident and felt that only 5 players contributed to the melee which is a sending off offence but decided to send none of them off at the time.

The CCCC have then looked at that and decided that approach was incorrect (other wise the CCCC should also have cited those 5 players) but that a 6th player and no other should have been punished. How does that work out? Unless we loop back to what on earth is a melee and how do you contribute to it?

It's completely wrong to single out players involved on the basis they did more than others. It's a binary rule. Either they contributed or they didn't. I'd have a lot less issue had significantly more players been banned but the whole thing strikes me as trying to make examples of certain people which is fundamentally unfair.

Would it be wrong to interpret this thought pattern as "one in, all in lads... they won't know who to ban then"?