Galway's Conor Whelan 'shocked' by 'very harsh' black card he was shown in Leinster final

Former referee Brian Gavin, writing in Monday’s Irish Examiner, believed the correct call to have been made

SHOCKED: Conor Whelan  is shown a Black Card by referee Michael Kennedy. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile.

Galway forward Conor Whelan was left “shocked” by the “very harsh” black card he received in the second half of Saturday's Leinster final.

Whelan was black-carded on 55 minutes after pulling down, from behind, Dublin’s Eoghan O’Donnell. The pull-down occurred just outside the 13-metre line and directly in front of the Galway goal.

There were three Galway defenders - Daithí Burke, Darren Morrissey, and Pádraic Mannion - positioned between O’Donnell and Darach Fahy’s goal when Whelan hauled the Dublin defender to the floor.

But despite the presence of these three maroon shirts blocking O'Donnell's route to goal, referee Michael Kennedy deemed a goal-scoring opportunity to have been denied and sent Whelan to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Donal Burke converted the resulting penalty to bring the numerically advantaged Dubs back within six. Whelan did not mince his words when asked what he thought of the black card call by Kennedy.

“To be honest, I thought it was very harsh,” said Whelan.

“At the time I collided with him, he did hit the ground, but I thought there was a covering defender there. That's a refereeing decision, I was shocked, really.

“But credit to the boys, they stepped up and I think we ended up winning a free and a penalty in the next two plays, so that put a bit of breathing space and it made it a little bit easier sitting on the sideline.” 

Former referee Brian Gavin, writing in Monday’s Irish Examinertarget="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">,target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> believed the correct call to have been made, while Galway manager Micheál Donoghue, speaking in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s 14-point win, felt the punishment outweighed the crime.

“It's a big punishment for the crime when maybe there are bodies back. It's a big call,” said the Tribes boss.