Just two straight red cards recorded in entire senior football championship

Major decline in dismissals this season

Referee Barry Tiernan shows Paudie Clifford of Kerry a red card. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

The Football Review Committee’s (FRC) rule changes and the GAA’s recent tightening up of its disciplinary measures are considered primary reasons behind a significant decline in sendings-off in this year’s championship.

Just four players were dismissed in the 2025 competition comprising 99 games – two straight dismissals and two for second yellow card offences. That’s compared to 12 red cards in the 2024 championship and one investigation, which led to a retrospective suspension.

The two straight dismissals came in the same game between Cork and Kerry in the Munster semi-final in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in April when Paudie Clifford and Seán Brady were sent to the line by referee Barry Tiernan.

The 17 red cards (six double yellows) in this year’s Allianz Football League was down from 19 (five double yellows) last year with direct dismissals reduced from 14 to 10.

In hurling, it was a different story. Thirteen players were sent off in this year’s hurling championship, 10 of them straight red cards including Darragh McCarthy, Chris Crummey, Shane Barrett, Jack O’Connor (Wexford) and Daithí Burke. That was up on 2024 when there were seven reds (five straight).

In this year’s Allianz Hurling League, there were 27 red cards, 19 of them double yellow cards. Two players had their proposed suspensions overturned on hearing, one of them being Cork defender Cormac O’Brien against Clare. However, that was well down on last year when there were 46 (29 straight) in the league.

Under the FRC's changes, referees have been administering a zero tolerance approach to head-high challenges, while getting involved in a melee other than removing a team-mate from a row is a black card offence. Showing dissent to a referee also results in a free-kick being brought forward 50m.

In 2023, the Central Competitions Control Committee along with the Central Hearings and Appeals bodies put forward a suite of rule amendments to tighten up the disciplinary process especially around team officials.

Among their motions passed were penalties for infractions by management or backroom figures previously on a match-ban basis being altered to a combination of a time-based suspension and match bans.

“The GAA disciplinary system is going well,” said the GAA’s national games administration manager Bernard Smith. “There is a marked difference between the football and the hurling.

“There have been changes made in the disciplinary system that have led to improvements at all levels. We believe we’re in a good spot at the moment in terms of how the system is working for everybody.”