JOHN BANNON: Call on free proves crucial

The one thing you can’t say about Ballybofey yesterday was that Joe McQuillan had a poor game.

It was packed with incidents and proved to be a difficult game to referee, which had been expected.

The hype before it was serious, and in fairness it’s the biggest game until the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

It was intriguing to see Jim McGuinness and Rory Gallagher’s reaction to some of the decisions that went against them, especially when their players were fouled and weren’t being awarded frees.

In the 22nd minute, one of their players was pulled down off the ball and they were so angry about it they both entered the field of play.

The key incident leading up to the goal in the first half was one of only a few black marks against McQuillan. A free was given to Mark McHugh but another one was then awarded to Michael Murphy for a foul by Conor Clarke.

Play hadn’t yet restarted from the initial free so I couldn’t understand why he called the new free. According to the rule, the ball has to be in play for a free to be given. It doesn’t matter if a guy boxes another in the face — as long as the ball isn’t in play, a free cannot be signalled.

From that free, Michael Murphy put the ball in for Patrick McBrearty to set up Colm McFadden for the goal so it was a crucial call.

A little later, Mark Donnelly was fouled but didn’t receive anything for it, neither a penalty or a free although it was unclear where it happened in or outside the 13-metre line.

Tyrone still got a point from that passage of play but to be fair to McQuillan his view was obstructed by Donegal defenders.

Donegal do have an advantage in getting so many players back because it can often blind the referee’s sight and this was a classic example.

You could see McQuillan swerving his body left and right to catch what happened but he can’t award what he hasn’t seen.

Colm Cavanagh was a little fortunate not to have picked up a red card as his high tackle was done on a Donegal player coming towards him at speed.

Joe McMahon lashed out at Ross Wherity because he was being held and it’s often a reaction when somebody is either being pulled or verbally abused.

He was sent off for a second yellow card after the umpires saw him trip Michael Murphy and it was good work on their behalf.

The other issue from the game was whether the couple of Donegal players who positioned themselves in front of Niall Morgan when he was kicking his frees were the necessary 13 metres back.

I wasn’t certain watching it on TV as the camera angles were difficult to get a clear picture of what was happening.

I was in Aughrim yesterday to watch my native Longford but watched both televised games afterwards.

Colm O’Rourke made a point in his analysis of the Kerry-Tipperary game of highlighting James O’Donoghue wanting a quick free after a high challenge. I didn’t have a problem with the call because it merited a yellow card and had to be recorded.

Referees sometimes forget to issue yellow cards as they allow the advantage.

Barry Grogan was unlucky to pick up a second yellow card — it certainly looked harsh to me.

In Aughrim, the only criticism of Barry Cassidy was his tendency to play the advantage rather than give the free.