'Never in my lifetime did I complain about a referee but today was disgraceful'

Seamus McEnaney was furious with the display of Barry Cassidy in Monaghan's Qualifier defeat to Mayo in Castlebar this afternoon

Monaghan manager Séamus McEnaney after their defeat to Mayo at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar. 

Seamus McEnaney stood with his back to the wall of the dressingroom tunnel in Castlebar at the end of Saturday’s Qualifier and tried to put his feelings into words. 

Frustration, anger and disappointment all battled for space as he faced a battery of dictaphones and microphones.

The Monaghan manager had just watched his team lose a dour struggle to Mayo and he fervently believed a penalty should have been awarded in their favour by Barry Cassidy three minutes into injury time. 

A goal at that stage would have levelled the game, so the sense of disappointment was palpable.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat things here. We are absolutely very disappointed. We think it was a stonewall penalty there at the end. There’s no grey area.

“I didn’t see it myself but from what I’ve been told the Mayo penalty was touch and go. I’m 20 years managing teams and 15 years managing Monaghan, off and on, and never in my lifetime did I complain about a referee, but today was disgraceful.

“These were huge margins. We can manage, we can build a backroom team, we can get the best players in Monaghan to play football but we cannot legislate for that type of stuff.

"At the final whistle I protected the referee as best I could. I stood three or four feet away from him and helped get him down the alleyway. I did tell him how I felt. I told him we were robbed of a stonewall penalty. I wasn’t aggressive or anything like that, but I’m very emotional right now and the Monaghan supporters are very emotional. We travelled here in our thousands. 

"Now, let’s not forget Mayo were very good as well. Their half-back line gave us a lot of trouble. We went long with some of our kick outs and they contested them and created opportunities. The game was very, very tight and it came down to a few small margins, but it was decided by some big margins. Was it a Mayo penalty, should we have got two penalties? I won’t know ‘til I’m at home tonight, but that’s how I feel this minute.”