Derry midfielder James Conway protested his innocence after his controversial red card in Saturday night's McKenna Cup final loss to Tyrone.

Conway was sent off by referee Martin Higgins on the advice of linesman Padraig Hughes following an incident involving Colm Cavanagh close to the sideline. His dismissal will rule him out of Derry's first two National League games, the first of which is against Galway next weekend.

"I did nothing. I hardly touched him," he insisted.

"I pulled his jersey. I was expecting a yellow card at worst. The linesman on the far side called it. I can't believe it. Hopefully it'll be overturned and I can play in the league because there was nothing in that."

Derry manager John Brennan was adamant that the sending off cost Derry victory.

"Derry were controlling the game up until the particular incident. We had a comfortable lead at that particular stage. I just wonder how a man who is 100 metres away has a better view of an incident to another linesman who is five metres away from it," he fumed. Tweet

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