Stiffer tests ahead for black card

In the end it was no more than a rehearsal but that didn’t stop some reviewing the black card’s debut like it was its opening weekend.

“I think there’s a little bit of a fear on behalf of Croke Park and the referees that there would have been a deluge of black cards and receive a whole heap of negative response,” Tommy Carr told RTÉ Six One News.

The former Dublin and Cavan manager had watched a game where there were no clear-cut black card offences. The closest came when Dublin’s Darragh Nelson high-tackled Paul Sharry and went to ground. But as the Westmeath player was not pulled to the ground, referee David Coldrick was correct to issue a yellow card. Carr deemed there was something amiss on Coldrick’s part, but ex-Meath footballer Bernard Flynn, also in Mullingar, felt the reluctance was coming from the players.