‘Incredible inconsistency’ over fouls leaves McIntyre bemused

IS IT the fault of a referee when, towards the end of a game, result in the balance, players commit a series of offences which – either because of their seriousness or because of an accumulation of fouls conceded – result in a yellow card, a delay as it’s being issued?

Is it the fault of a referee if, on a couple of occasions, a player acts totally out of character and frontal charges an opponent, an act which, if the referee deems it malicious, can result in a straight red card?

Such was the situation in Nowlan Park, six yellow cards issued by referee John Sexton in the second half of what was never a dirty game, one of those yellows resulting in a red (second yellow for Wexford sub John Redmond), and – far more controversially – two straight reds, first for Galway wing-forward Andy Smith (who was already on a yellow anyway), then for Wexford’s Diarmuid Lyng.