Gilroy: Bad boys need protection

Pat Gilroy believes referees need to look beyond the headlines and offer greater protection to some of Gaelic football’s perceived bad boys.

The Dublin manager was responding to a question about forward Diarmuid Connolly, whose disciplinary record has let him down in the past and again this summer when a red card against Wexford saw him suspended for the Leinster final against Meath.

“The fact is that [Connolly] gets talked about a lot and people can get targeted. Then the opposition are going to do something to them just because they’re fellas who might have a name for something like that.