Photo: RTÉ
I think it’s come as a surprise to most of us, but a very pleasant one at that, to learn a short time ago tonight that Kevin Keane’s appeal against the red card he picked up in injury time against Donegal was successful. At his hearing in Croke Park tonight, the red card was downgraded to a yellow and so Kevin will be available for selection against Dublin on Sunday week.
Mayo GAA confirmed the welcome news on Twitter tonight in the following terms:
The Hearings Committee downgraded the sanction from a Red Card to a Yellow Card meaning Kevin Keane has been cleared to play the next day!
— Mayo GAA (@MayoGAA) August 19, 2015
It’ll come as no surprise as well to learn that at the same sitting the CHC tonight overturned the eight-week ban imposed on Tiernan McCann for his James O’Donoghue impersonation in Tyrone’s quarter-final against Monaghan and so he’ll be available for selection for Sunday’s semi-final against Kerry.
If a Dublin player got off for same offence…. We would be steaming! He can count himself as extremely fortunate…
I just hope people move on from Keane red card now and don’t let the rights or wrongs of it interfere with their focus. So excited that I really can’t wait till Sunday week…anyone going to Dublin tomorrow??? Mayo on the rise…
Great to hear the possible successfully.
It was the proper decision to give him a run in the 1/4s, but not all right decisions work out.
11 sleeps to the next step.
Good to hear about Keane .We need him either as starter or as cover. What he did was harmless enough but lessons need to be learned and you simply cant raise you hand to an opponent. Regarding the Tyrone chap, while I detest what he did and have little admiration for his team mates who engage in gamesmanship etc constantly nonetheless it would have been wrong to suspend him. I dont think GAA should introduce rules mid season. By all means bring in suspensions for diving but at start of season not half way through it. Anyway I think that guy has been penalised sufficiently. I cant remember any player being ridiculed more for what he did on the field. OH and apology to the guy he got sent off wouldnt go astray.
Delighted for keane and the mayo team, common sense prevailed. But let this be a lesson to the team, we need all our players available, dont get involved when the game is over.
Great news on Keane surprised it was downgraded. On tickets I understand club allocation demand is surpassing supply leaving active members without tickets. Clubs should have been looked after first before selling the remainder as general releases tickets. This game involving Dublin was always going to sell out.
He should never have been sent off and now the referee needs to be punished for his huge mistake. I don’t understand how some people are saying he was lucky to have it demoted to a yellow card. Obviously they know zilch about football and the rules.
Happy for keane, Murphy was looking for him to be sent off, a sore loser on the day and no angel himself.
Anyway, Mayo have an almost full hand to deal with now, too bad about Mickey c, so we have no excuses, let’s rock. Let Kevin’s card be a warning , do not under any circumstance take the bait offered by Dublin, it could undo all the work you and your team mates put in over the last 5 years and rob you of your place in Mayo folklore if things go well in the next 2 games.
Hup Mayo
“For his James o’donoghue impersonation” …. I did laugh out loud there WJ!
Justice prevailed on both counts and that’s all we ask for, hon mayo
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tyrone didn’t start Tiernan McCann. The bad press he has got over the past week is bound to takes its toll.
Great news for Mayo and Kevin Keane. It is worth remarking that this is not the first time a ref has been judged over severe regards Mayo players – remember Lee Keegan in last year”s drawn semi v Kerry. But as has been said it is a warning to all not to get drawn into confrontations by losers when games are practically over.
Also good to see that the rules are being implemented as they stand re Tiernan McCann.
Great stuff.. delighted for Kevin. In fairness I still don’t know what he was thinking, it was neither a slap, nor a closed fist or even a clip around the ear.. only Kevin will ever know and I hope he dosn’t dwell on it for long because the whole petulant kick/flick by Leeroy last year definately affected his game in the replay imo. Kevin has more time than Leeroy had and hopefully over the next few days he will clear the head, tear into the AvB game’s and focus on the next hurdle. Will he start next day out? only if Mayo go ultra defensive I think.. More likely direct replacement sub.. No more disruptions now please.. injury free and everybody in flying form will do just grand..onwards and upwards
Willie Joe,
Re your suggestion in your piece on The Other Semifinal that you would like to know what Jim Gavin’s been drinking to make him think that diving is not now endemic in the game, I don’t think it’s the drink. I’ve been a dedicated drinker of all kinds of strong drinks for the past almost 50 years without getting any hallucinations like that. I think it’s something he’s smoking instead. Maybe LSD is back in circulation in Dublin – hav’nt heard of it in years.
The rules in Gaelic Football are open to interpretation and players have to stand up for themselves on the pitch – obviously within the rules. It’s important that players win individual battles, margins are often very fine. Fair play for Kevin for standing up for himself and delighted to see board took mitigating factors into account – Murphy was holding onto him close to his jugular.
Delighted for KK lucky boy what he did was foolish given the time and score when it happened I am very disappointed with Murphy given that he has a Mayo dad they were well beaten fair and square what he did was school yard stuff at best he had nothing to gain at that stage bad sportsmanship on his part.
Lucky boy Kevin but glad he got off. Onwards towards the semi final.
Hello, delighted for the lad as well. I would imagine wat riled him in part was all the blame he had to take for Murphy’goal in AI and then Murphy bullying him. On Murphy’s part i am sure he was bitterly disappointed at the time and lashed ouf so to speak. They will both look back and wish it had not happened.
From a Mayo pov i hope Kevin Keane is more careful as he does give away frees but it would be nice to see him there if Colm Mc is making a beeline for goal and he is a nice sight coming out with the ball. He might lack the style and grace of Ger Mc.
All is looking good and I am happy to leave everything to the team, management, supporters and all the prayers from Knock and across the world and beyond. Ciaran 2.
Didn’t expect that but will take it. I actually thought that successful appeal last year with Keegan would go against Keane. He provides good cover so it’s a real boost, particularly given Cunniffe may be carrying a hammer injury.
That’s a big result for our “legal” team, two years in a row we have gotten the benefit of the doubt. KK is very lucky and I know it it was a Dublin player that got off similarily, we would be bulling!
Had to laugh at yer wan who is showing up in the twitter feed to the right, she’s “#furious” at the decision to overturn apparently.
You might then think, why is she “#furious”, maybe shes a Dub?
No, your second guess would be right, a Rossie.
Wouldn’t expect any less but the usual full support from that gang anyway
Haha a few of us have been saying on here that the rossies absolutely hate us (and I them), their was alot of discussion bout this earlier in the summer. Guess that one on twitter your on about, does’nt want to wish her western neighbours well either haha.
This makes Murphy look even worse. Crying to the umpire behind the goal etc. Very bad sportsmanship Michael. The game was lost and you tried to ruin the day for someone else. Shame on you sir. Do the decent thing and impose a 1 match ban on yourself and miss the first championship game of 2016. It might win you back a bit of respect.
How on earth did Keane get off? 😀
But looking at it objectively, the cccc make things up as they go along, although I’m glad in this instance!! A striking offence is a striking offence, however, regardless of “force”
While I’m delighted we will have him available, a decision like this will someday come back and bite ourselves on the arse I’m afraid when a key player for another team gets a deserved red overturned. In all fairness, if that was a Dublin player can you imagine our reaction?
Completely correct decision on McCann by the way
The positive is this surely rules out a non-fully fit Cunniffe starting
With limited options available in Keane’s expected absence, I was a little wary that Cunniffe would be risked regardless. At least if he plays now we’ll know he’s fully fit, and properly raring to go!
I think when you look at it objectively Murphy looks worse. He acted like a loser who is going to take someone else down. Keane really pushed him away, in the process ‘simulating’ a striking action. Keane may well have mouthed at Murphy first of course; quite possible, but there is no evidence there
Murphy should have gotten a second yellow and hence a red. That was a daft call. He didn’t strike though in fairness
If I made the rules both would have gotten a yellow and get on with it, but the way the rules are Keane has gotten insanely lucky here
I’m just glad for Keane on a personal level, as I know there was no harm in it and it’s awful to miss out in such circumstances
But if Diarmuid Connolly did similar this site may well have blown up by now!!
Diarmuid Connolly did do similiar a couple of years ago and he got off on appeal. So kevin is’nt the only one to have a deserved red overturned.
A red it was, no doubt about it. Having it overturned does not deflect badly on the County Board, or the Player.
The Joke that is enforcement of the rules is what makes the GAA as a whole look bad.
Even though it works against the Dubs (He is a fine player, and would have been a loss) – I would hate to see a fella miss a big game over something like this. I wouldn’t have been sporting, no more than Connolly missing out would have been.
Best of Luck Sunday Week, now you have one less excuse if you loose. 🙂
Good news for Kevin and the team. More reinforcements for the big battle !
I hear that Kevin went up himself to argue the case.
I presume what his argument would have been that he was attempting to “push away” Murphy and that his hand accidentally made contact with Murphy’s face as he was being half choked at the time. For the record I do actually believe (naively or not) that that was his intention.
A red card is for striking or attempting to strike which implies intent. If he convinced the committee that there was no striking intent and simply incidental contact with Murphys face during an attempted push then he should have been downgraded to a yellow.
This is the only reasoning I can find for changing the card from red to yellow.
We don’t actually know what was in the referees report so you can’t really say it’s a joke of a decision, im surprised etc. If the referee put it down as a striking offence then yes it would be a surprise but how do we know what referee put it down as..Was it dangerous conduct? I’d love to know. That’s why the refs report is so important as it can be argued against if it’s written incorrectly etc. Likewise for mccanns ban. In the rules it’s a yellow card offence so as brolly wrote shortly afterwards the gaa hadn’t a foot to stand on and the proposed ban was obscene. Anyway it’s good to have Kevin back and I’d love to have been a fly on the wall at both hearings last night. Looking forward to both semis
Only right. Was a natural reaction to being held by the neck. When you look at the video it is clear that there was no intent – that’s the key point.
Great work by the county board, they must have presented a very very strong argument. I cannot for the life of me see how he got off. Irrespective of provocation from Murphy, Kevin’s actions were a straight red card offence. “To strike, or attempt to strike” says the rule book, is a red offence. Kevin did both. Nice to see us get a turn of good luck for once as we will need all the fresh legs we can get in our defense. Dublin attack with runners from deep and do so from all angles, therefore, our backs will have a lot of mileage on the clock by the 65 minute mark. We will need fresh legs to counter the repeated Dublin runners.