Referee's seven-card trick

GAELIC GAMES:SEVEN RED cards, five of which resulted from a single incident of near complete breakdown in player discipline, means both Kildare and Laois got more than they reckoned on in yesterday's O'Byrne Cup quarter-final.

Some lengthy suspensions are almost certain to follow, leaving both counties without several first-choice players for the start of the National Football League in two weeks’ time.

On 30 minutes, without much warning, a relatively minor incident exploded into a mass boxing match between the teams – with only two players, the Kildare goalkeeper and a Laois forward, not getting involved in some way. Some of the punches definitely hit their target, and it took at least 30 seconds before peace was restored.

With that referee Syl Doyle consulted with his linesmen, before calling five players around him; Billy Sheehan, Kevin Meaney and Peter O’Leary from Laois, and Morgan O’Flaherty and John Doyle from Kildare.

He then flashed the red card in front of their faces in one swift movement – like a magician about to perform a card trick. See the card? Now disappear.

It was, as Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney admitted afterwards with some obvious understatement, “disappointing”, and yet he also pointed to an incident just prior to the brawl, where a Kildare player, Ronan Sweeney, went to ground having apparently been hit from behind.

The referee threw the ball up while that player remained on the ground, and for whatever reason, that seemed to spark the free-for-all.

“There is no place for a brawl like that,” said McGeeney. “None. No matter what excuse I or anyone else gives. There is no excuse. It just shouldn’t happen. But I do think it could easily, easily have been stopped.

“I don’t think Laois went out looking for a fight. I don’t think Kildare did either. It’s hard for us though, because we’re not allowed to comment on any decisions made. But you wouldn’t have had that had the incident just five seconds before the brawl been taken care off, then it would have been all wiped out. That incident should have been dealt with, whichever way he (the referee) saw fit. But to throw the ball up, straight after two people were sort of on the ground, was a complete disaster.”

That wasn’t the end of the indiscipline, however: after 21 minutes of the second half, Laois defender Denis Booth was the sixth player to see a straight red, for wrestling Dermot Earley to the ground. Then, two minutes from time, Kildare substitute Pádraig O’Neill also saw red, for a second booking.

By then Kildare’s victory was safe – 0-11 to 0-8 – as it had looked for most of the game, yet both teams won’t forget their trip to Portlaoise for a while. The Leinster Council almost certainly won’t allow them to.