Sean Cavanagh’s warning over ‘sledging’ effects on vulnerable players

Tyrone’s Sean Cavanagh has revealed his concerns about the effect of ‘sledging’ or verbal abuse upon vulnerable GAA players who might be prompted to ‘do something silly’.

The vastly-experienced midfielder acknowledged that both Tyrone and Donegal players were guilty of crossing the line at times with regard to cynical behaviour during Sunday’s heated Ulster championship tie.

Neil Gallagher and Sean Cavanagh were both red-carded as Donegal defeated Tyrone. http://t.co/KTV9Vequ0B pic.twitter.com/lGxuvEgwjL

— Sky Sports GAA (@SkySportsGAA) May 17, 2015

The latest meeting of two Ulster rivals contained yellow, black and red cards — Cavanagh himself received all three — while an unsightly melee occurred as the players left the field at half-time.

Many of the flashpoints appeared to stem from verbal abuse which was rife throughout the encounter and was heavily criticised afterwards by pundits.

Though he was critical of referee Joe McQuillan’s apparent leniency, the former Footballer of the Year agreed that the players were ultimately at fault and revealed his fear that if sledging is not stamped out soon, some vulnerable players could be seriously affected.

“People will take it differently,” said Cavanagh. “I am accustomed myself to not taking it personally and have sort of laughed it off through the years. But yeah, there will be players that can’t do that.

“There is so much now on the mental health of players and all that and there are players in dark places. You would hope that it doesn’t come to the stage that some player tries to do something silly or something like that, if he has been abused or has had a bad game and people have really gotten on his case.”

Cathal McCarron lined out in Tyrone’s defence having missed last year’s championship due to a number of personal problems which were highlighted in the media. Cavanagh didn’t identify any individuals but said that a number of Tyrone players received particular abuse during Sunday’s three-point defeat.

“The abuse can be very, very personal and I know on Sunday there were certainly players, you will probably know them, that play for us, that have been through tough times and they were getting a fair bit of personal abuse,” said Cavanagh.

“Look, it’s disappointing to see and it’s not just all one side. It’s both sides. I don’t know how you can change it. I don’t know how you can stop somebody whispering in somebody’s ear because I don’t think you’re ever going to be able to police that. I think it’s part and parcel of the game.”

The three-time All-Ireland medal winner was critical of referee McQuillan’s handling of the contest, suggesting leniency early in the game allowed the contest to grow increasingly spiteful.

“I would say that you know after five or 10 minutes what you are going to be pulled for,” he said. “On Sunday, I knew and everyone knew (that they could get away with more) because there were a couple of incidents in the first few minutes when a couple of players were getting body checked off the ball and pulled to the ground and you are thinking, ‘God he hasn’t really punished that’. You’ll say, ‘right, at least we know we can do that now’.

“Once you start saying that, they will go one step further and try a trip, talking in someone’s ear or whatever. I think on Sunday it probably wasn’t dealt with early enough and that was a symbol for everyone else, saying we could move to stage two and go and push the boundaries even further. I think that was all over the pitch.”

The Moy man said he was surprised to hear that Justin McMahon had been particularly criticised in the media for his close marking of Donegal talisman Michael Murphy.

“Obviously, we have had a few colourful characters in our defence over the years but I wouldn’t have had Justy down as that type of guy,” said Cavanagh at the launch of SuperValu’s ‘Kids for Kids’ initiative.

“Justy was obviously marking Michael Murphy tightly and they would know each other very well. I haven’t seen the game back but in real time I didn’t think he was doing things that were over and above what was happening in other parts of the pitch.”

As for the black card that Cavanagh picked up himself late in the game, which was followed by a red card, for a high challenge, he said that Tyrone may appeal it.

“I could maybe understand if he thought it was a high tackle and it might have been a yellow card,” he said. “But a black? I was at a loss because the amount of cynical things that went on and didn’t get a black card. I can hold my hand up and say there was zero per cent to be cynical. I’m sure we’ll review it and maybe appeal it because I don’t understand why it was a black card.”