Referee Collins admits O'Neill red card gaffe

CORK referee Michael Collins has admitted he made a mistake in sending off Tyrone's Stephen O'Neill in Saturday's ill-tempered Ulster SFC Final at Croke Park.

Collins issued a yellow card to O'Neill on 61 minutes for a late shoulder on Andy Mallon. However he then flashed a red card, indicating it was the attacker's second booking.

But on revision of his notes after the match, the Clonakilty official discovered he had not issued an earlier yellow to O'Neill.

"He has accepted that he has misread his notes - he did not give O'Neill a preliminary yellow card," referee's spokesman Fr Seamus Gardiner said last night. "When he checked his own notes he found he had made a mistake and O'Neill should not have been sent off.

"I was talking to him Saturday night and he was terribly, terribly disappointed. Any referee would be disappointed to make a mistake but especially in a game like this at Croke Park. But that does not take from the fact that Michael remains one of the top football referees in the country." O'Neill is now certain to be available for Tyrone's All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Monaghan in a fortnight.

Tyrone manager Micky Harte said he was 'disappointed and frustrated' at the turn of events: "It's very disappointing when you see the effort and commitment that Stephen O'Neill has put in all his life. I am not saying we would have won the game had Stephen not been sent off. That was not guaranteed, but at the same time I feel the result could have been more favourable to us.

"And video evidence would show that Peter Canavan was also sent off unfairly,'' he added as the Tyrone County Board admitted they will appeal the dismissal of the All-Ireland winning skipper.

Harte said that his former captain 'did not lift his hand and did not strike anybody.'

Meanwhile, the Ulster Council are investigating the confrontation between a Tyrone fan and Armagh's Ciaran McKeever after he was sent-off.