Sending off v. Rovers

Met Hugh Davey in town on Saturday morning - he said that what happened for the red card was that the Rovers lad (Croly) grabbed hold of his foot and Davey was trying to free himself - said he never stamped on him at all. He went to the ref after the game and asked why he'd been sent off - the ref said stamping. Davey said that yer man had grabbed hold of his foot and he was trying to free himself, and the ref said that he saw that and that's why he booked Croly!

Now I'm not one to be criticising officials too much (because I've been there myself), but if even half of that's true (and I see no reason why not), then it's yet another ridiculous decision by an official who, from the offset, looked completely incompetent. And the linesman was even worse - even the Gardaí were cracking up at some of the ridiculous offsides he gave in the second half!

Irish referees are bums in general. I don't like the whole "referee" debate but the fact is the vast majority of Irish officials aren't very good. I can count the number of games that I've come out of thinking "the ref had a solid game today" on one hand, I can recall even more where the ref had a shocker (the match last season where dirty Geogho decked Pat Jennings en route to a goal springs to mind, good lord what an awful decision that was...).

What worries me more is the state of our squad. It was small at the start of the season but the amount of injuries/suspensions we've had thus far has been shocking. Even if we can get Hugh's red rescinded we'll be without him on Monday.

you can tell taht sorry SOB from me that when he comes home or back up to belfast to see the lads Smiling Greatly (Smiler) and The MAverick (Jonny) will be waiting! and we will be ones stomping a mudhole in him! BONG!

TV3 helpfully missed the incident, not that that stopped Rico from saying it was harsh!