Oisín McConville doesn’t think his nephew Rian O’Neill is getting enough protection from referees.

The Armagh captain is facing the prospect of missing his side’s All-Ireland SFC Round 3 clash with Galway on the weekend after next after he was red-carded following an altercation with Cormac Quinn in the Orchard County’s defeat to Tyrone last Saturday.

"I didn't think there was a big pile in it to be honest, " the Wicklow manager told the BBC's The GAA Social podcast.

"I'm not making excuses for Rian. One of the things I was told at the start of the year by the referees' committee was that they were going to protect the better players and they are just not doing that."

"He (O’Neill) gets no protection whatsoever. People say because he's bigger than everyone else and stronger that he should be able to take it and all that…. pure nonsense. You either protect the player or you don't."

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