Dublin duo may face action as TV replays highlight incidents

DUBLIN footballers Ciarán Whelan and Denis Bastick may face disciplinary action arising out of two separate second-half incidents in Monday’s shattering All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Kerry.

Midfielder Whelan was caught by television cameras swinging an elbow into the face of Kingdom substitute Aidan O’Mahony while Bastick became entangled with Kieran Donaghy who was acting as a water carrier for Jack O’Connor’s side.

Televisions replays, unavailable during the game, showed the Dublin defender kicking out at former Footballer of the Year Donaghy who had been ruled out with a serious foot injury.

The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) refused to comment on the matter last night.

Meanwhile, Dublin chairman Gerry Harrington last night insisted that Pat Gilroy and his backroom team have the full backing of the county board despite the manner of Monday’s hammering.

Harrington said: “Some of the criticisms have been over the top. There should be no snap decisions by anyone in the wake of this. I know people will say this and that about the management and the team but I know the amount of work that they put in preparing for this game since January.

“Nobody went out there on Monday to lose. Everyone was perfectly prepared and focused. But it just didn’t happen for us. Everything that could go wrong for Dublin did go wrong and everything that could go right for Kerry went right.”

He added: “They beat us fair and square and we will wish them well. They move onto an All-Ireland semi-final and we have to go back and have a think about next year. The management team will come together over the next couple of weeks and months in an effort to work out what went wrong and try to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

But Harrington was at a loss to explain how things could have gone so drastically wrong for Dublin.

“I don’t think they could have done anything differently. You could see after 15 or 20 minutes that the game was gone, there was nothing that Dublin could have done. It was like watching the Kerry of old. They had the three low-profile games to keep themselves going and then came out with all guns blazing. We are awfully disappointed and so are our supporters. I am very proud of the players and the management team who won their fifth Leinster title in a row this year and have put in huge work since January.”

RTÉ last night revealed that Monday’s Croke Park clash was the most watched game of Championship 2009

The Monday Game Live on RTÉ Two attracted an average audience of 602,000 from throw-in to final whistle and an audience share of 62% meaning that more than three-fifths of those watching television at the time were tuned into the game. The audience peaked between 3.15 and 3.29pm when 662,000 viewers tuned in.

For Sunday’s quarter-finals, the Tyrone v Kildare clash drew an average audience of 437,000, with an average audience share of 55% watching the entire game. An average audience of 336,000 viewers and an average share of 49% watched the Cork v Donegal game from start to finish.