Pat Gilroy took Michael Darragh Macauley off before he was sent off in Dublin's defeat to Kildare yesterday.

The All Star midfielder was one of nine players to receive yellow cards in a game that saw Kildare's Eoghan O'Flaherty and Dublin's Paul Brogan dismissed for second offences, and his manager decided to replace him after just 19 minutes.

"There was a lot of messing going on between him and his man (Darryl Flynn) at that stage, and there was just no point," Gilroy explained.

"It was silly stuff so we just took him off so he didn't get sent off. Referees seem to be very strict in O'Byrne Cup-type matches. There seems to be an awful lot of frees for innocuous things.

"I didn't think either one of them were sending offs but at the same time strictly speaking they were so we just have to live with that. It's a part of our game that wasn't particularly good today.

"We weren't particularly disciplined so it's something we need to address for sure." Tweet

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