Brian Gavin: Brown's black card was extremely harsh on him - and Limerick 

Referee Jerome Henry. ©INPHO/Oisin Keniry

Black cards were the big talking points from both of yesterday’s All-Ireland SFC qualifiers and I do have sympathy for Limerick’s Gordon Brown.

Referee Jerome Henry didn’t see it, he was relying on linesman Maurice Deegan to inform him that Brown body collided with a Cork opponent but it looked a severe sanction on the replay and even harsher on Limerick as they conceded 1-3 with him off the field. Jerome should have been picking up an incident like that himself.

Like Shaun Patton’s black card in Clones, it was a turning point, more so than Paul Walsh’s rapid double yellow card sending off, which he could have no complaints about. Lashing out with his hand for the second booking, he was silly.

Jerome made the right call with the penalty, Kevin O’Donovan was clearly pushed, and yellow cards for the likes of Cian Sheehan and Steven Sherlock were correct but I’m not sure if this performance will push Jerome on to bigger games.

In contrast, Brendan Cawley commanded the Armagh-Donegal game well. The black card for Patton was a process involving both his umpires who he spoke to at length before awarding the penalty.

As Patton was dismissed, there were questions raised why Donegal weren’t allowed to bring on a substitute goalkeeper and Caolan McGonagle had to step into the breach before Michael Lynch was eventually allowed on.

I have seen it mentioned that it's at the discretion of the team in question to address the matter and therefore Lynch could have been brought in as a substitution. However, this foul might have come under the new black card/penalty rule, which some people believe only applies to hurling and therefore Donegal had to wait until the next break in play to make a substitution.

McGonagle was rightly booked in the game as was Michael Murphy even though the mark which led to his yellow card should never have been awarded as it came from a Ryan McHugh free kick. Nevertheless, Brendan had a strong afternoon and he appears to be going places.

On Saturday, both Mayo and Kildare had reason to question contentious decisions. The biggest one came in the second half when Ben McCormack was whistled by Derek O’Mahoney for touching the ball on the ground when he clearly didn’t. Derek is a steady referee who likes to let it go as much as he can. Nine times out of 10, the fella carrying the ball into a tackle will be pinged by him for overcarrying.

The big call in the Clare-Roscommon qualifier was the penalty awarded to Clare which set up that dramatic finale but Niall Cullen made the right call – Gavin Cooney was fouled by Ronan Daly.

I can’t go without commenting on the decision by the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) to retrospectively punish Ronan Hayes and Peter Duggan for incidents in last Sunday week’s Munster final.

Putting this column together that evening, I, like everyone else, was blown away by the intensity and quality of the game in Thurles. I complimented John Keenan on contributing to one of the best games of hurling you’re likely to see.

Later on, The Sunday Game highlighted the incidents which, make no mistake about it, were nasty enough. The officials clearly didn’t see – with the benefit of replays and being able to pause the game, I didn’t and I know many others didn’t either.

I can’t condone what happened, but I was disappointed to learn that John was criticised in a referees meeting last Thursday night. James Owens got a grilling too for the Cianan Fahy stamp on Richie Reid and while I mentioned that incident I wonder if the referees committee and the general public are on the same page.

If John is to be questioned for his excellent performance in Thurles, then there is a huge misunderstanding between what is being expected of referees by administrators and hurling people. Do these officials have different ideas? In a game so quick and manic, it would have been impossible for him or any other official to report every matter.

As for the CCCC, they are entitled to do what they did. They would have asked both John and James if they dealt with the incidents and when they responded that they hadn’t the committee was free to review and take action against the players.