I am the ref: Kerry penalty cruel on Collins

No question about it, the biggest talking point across the weekend’s games was the penalty decision by Pádraig Hughes in Killarney.

Looking back on the footage of it, Mark Collins had his eyes on the ball at all times and although he did make contact with James O’Donoghue it looked anything but deliberate.

There were also a couple of neck-high yellow cards by Johnny Buckley and Kieran Donaghy, which has been the norm this past while, but you could make just a strong a case for black cards or even red when they are dangerous.

But the difference between yellow and black cards is now such a grey area that I wonder if the black card is actually of any benefit to the game from a refereeing perspective.

It is becoming more and more difficult to decipher black from yellow and it’s unclear if they actually act to the control of our games.

The black card is also leading to further confusion for spectators and viewers. But Hughes did, in fairness, get the black card calls right on David Moran, Paul Kerrigan and Colm O’Driscoll. All were textbook offences.

In Croke Park yesterday, it was quite stunning just how much James McGrath let go. This was best summed up in the 48th minute when a series of frees could have been given. It must be frustrating for teams to see this because John Keenan’s officiating in Ennis on Saturday for Clare and Offaly couldn’t have contrasted more to McGrath’s handling of the game.

Players and managers become more agitated when what one referee sees as a free another sees as nothing.

Keenan actually handled the Cusack Park qualifier well. He had a word with Colin Egan early on when he clashed with John Conlon but took no action and it was right because it wasn’t a deliberate hit.

To emphasise my point further, in the Wexford-Cork game in Wexford Park Alan Kelly issued yellow cards to Daithí Waters in the 34th minute and Bill Cooper in the 58th minute. Frees would not have been awarded never mind yellow cards shown for the same tackles in Croke Park yesterday.

The chief talking point from the Cavan-Roscommon game was the sending off of Tomás Corr before play resumed for the second half for an incident at the end of the first half. For whatever reason, Corr wasn’t punished for the offence until it was brought to the referee David Gough’s attention during the half-time break. They weren’t able to substitute Corr. Cavan can have no real complaints even though the decision was delayed.

In the same game in the 62nd minute, Barry Reilly took a sideline kick which went over the bar only for it to be disallowed because a team-mate had entered the square. That was an incorrect call. According to rule 4.9, “when a point is scored from outside the small rectangle and the ball is sufficiently high to be out of reach of all players, the score shall be allowed even though an attacking player may have been otherwise illegally within the small rectangle before the ball — provided that the player in question does not interfere with the defence”.