I couldn't believe to hear the news last night about Brian Farrell's unsucessful appeal. It was clear to be seen that both himself and Michael Murphy deserved to be let off the hook because of two poor refereeing decisions. I cant help but feel sorry for Farrell, a genuine honest footballer. Keep the chin up Brian, hopefully we will have more football for you after Saturday week.

upmeath (Meath) - Posts: 92 - 17/06/2011 09:17:29    958501

absolute disgrace, made even harder to believe when Murphy's was sucessful.

toon (Meath) - Posts: 247 - 17/06/2011 09:28:48    958505

The decision on Brian a total disgrace but Meath will carry on with the other 31 counties against them plus most of the GAA heirachy

scarraboy (Meath) - Posts: 70 - 17/06/2011 09:39:48    958514

Farrell is from Meath - he's lucky a file wasn't sent to the DPP

Royal_Gunner (Meath) - Posts: 534 - 17/06/2011 09:56:47    958531

Have to agree a disgracefull decision by the ref and now the ccc, i seen the incident happen from the hogan stand and both players should have got a yellow card at the most and bolton struck first and a split second before farrell threw back his arm in defence so cant understand how the ref/linesmen missed bolton hitting first.

tailteannpark (Meath) - Posts: 174 - 17/06/2011 10:08:52    958541

He attemped to Strike, did'nt make any real contact but the intent was there- in fairness he should have had more sense! I am not surprised that he did not get off.

AnMhi96 (Meath) - Posts: 72 - 17/06/2011 10:35:19    958556

No common sense or goodwill towards Meath at the CCCC, that's for sure. If Brian had a certain reputation you could understand them punishing him, by the letter of the law, but no he is the very opposite. Ah well, he will be back in the loop for our next qualifier when (should!) we beat the wee men.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 17/06/2011 10:39:51    958562

The real question that meath should be asking themselves is "Where has this lack of disipline come from?". there was a league table recently that showed Meath as one of the worst teams when it comes to yellow cards and sending-offs. This is a major area that should be looked at with the Meath panel. In every game we're constantly in danger of having someone sent off.

I think if Harnan was with the panel for long enough, this would have been sorted out.

rosscross (Meath) - Posts: 206 - 17/06/2011 11:01:22    958586

If he didn't get involved he wouldn't find himself in this predicement. I have sympathy for him as the incident deserve a red in my opinion but he clearly swings an arm at the Kildare player so he can't have too many complaints. Michael Murphy and Dick Clerkin have had their cards overturned but in both instances they caused more pain to the opposing players in question. I wonder did the CCC.... look at the incident in full as the Kildare player has a swing at Farrell first, will this player in question be suspended? Somehow I doubt it. How on earth has the Cavan player who "Clothes Lined" Lacey near the end of the Donegal game not have his card upgraded to a red. I know it was dealt with on the field but if the CCC feel Marty Duffy's red to Michael Murphy was a mistake then surely the yellow for the incident on Lacey was also a mistake.

Diego (Meath) - Posts: 1205 - 17/06/2011 11:03:14    958590

Yes bolton swung at farrell first so why doesnt he get suspended if the cccc are going to uphold farrells red card then bolton should get the same for a similar offence but obviously meath have the whole of the GAA down on them because of a refferees blunder last summer and the GAA failure to step in and sort the replay furore.

tailteannpark (Meath) - Posts: 174 - 17/06/2011 11:30:39    958628

Rosscross you have a good point there. Yes it is harsh and unfair what has happened to Farrell but if he hadn't stupidly slapped out at his man then he would be playing. Farrell is not usually an indisciplined player. I have done umpire a number of times when he was playing and never noticed the slightest thing with him but he let his guard down against Kildare, and this is his second time. This has become a feature of Meath football and must be rooted out. I agree that Harnan would have dealt with this sort of stupidity. Lads have to learn to take the lousy blow and move on, this sort of thing is done to get a player sent off and it is working all too often.

The real Árd Rí (Meath) - Posts: 990 - 17/06/2011 11:52:12    958680

Yes Ard Ri, the players need to learn to move on from these tackles and avoid retaliating. People were commenting on the yellow card that O'Rourke was shown against Kildare, but maybe if he didn't retaliate to the pushing and shoving that he was getting, then he wouldn't have been shown the yellow.
A yellow card can change the game for a player. All of a sudden, they're holding back going into tackles, not giving the full 100%, just incase they pick up another silly yellow and get the line.

rosscross (Meath) - Posts: 206 - 17/06/2011 13:01:25    958765

I agree with rosscross like the intent was there from Farrell but if the ccc are not letting him off then what about Bolton did he not strike first???
also the point about Meath getting to many silly yellow cards, the worst culprit of this is Brian Meade he seems to always get the silly yellow and then everyone is nervous that his next stupid tackle will get him sent off. Meath need to sort out this discilpine problem fast or else we could be in trouble not just for next saturday but if we win for the rest of the championship! like we all know what refs are like these days one little foul your on a yellow and then a foul or 2 later your on the line and i wouldn't be surprised if there is at least 2-3 sending offs next week!

meathforsam09 (Meath) - Posts: 116 - 17/06/2011 14:08:21    958846

In fairness I don't accept that it's indisipline, it's the fact that our lads can't tackle properly. To many times they try to get a hand in and are shrugged off and then they drag at the opposition. Most of our yellows are for persistent fouling a good example being Brian Meade.

Anseo (Meath) - Posts: 69 - 17/06/2011 14:52:36    958910

Sure what else would you expect from this old fussy GAA hierarchy,our games are turning into a farce because ot this kind of rubbish.They are trying to turn it into something which it isnt,a bastardised game somewhere between basketball and soccer,where the slightest bit of handbags/argy-bargy/contact results in honest lads missing games.They are doing this to try to influence children and their parents into playing this "clean,honest" game where there is no chance of getting hurt and no confrontation whatsoever.To me this simply isnt sport,people want to see a small bit of niggle and competitiveness,and the GAA are wiping this out completely,and in my opinion they should be ashamed.

TheDogsBite (Meath) - Posts: 52 - 17/06/2011 16:46:09    959050

To be fair Farrell deserved what he got.
Okay the incident was harmless, but as I pointed out before the rule book doesn't say how hard you hve to hit someone.
He does have history in this as well, he got a stupid sending off against Dublin a while back.
Granted the Kildare player should have walked with him, but if as he suggested on his twitter Farrell was "Ragin", he should look in the mirror to see who the guilty party was.
Bottom line if he didn't over react to a harmless enough slap then he couldn't have been sent off, he attempted to strike an opponent got caught and received the requisite punishment .

denniswise (Meath) - Posts: 106 - 17/06/2011 18:20:16    959131

To be honest Im fed up hearing about the rulebook and the letter of the law.Every incident is different so how can you judge them all off the same rule?Common sense has to be used,it is meant to be a mans game!Yes the rule doesnt say how hard you have to hit,or in fact if contact is made or not,you have to see the incident.The referees seem to go by their own rule,if the player "struck" hits the ground,then send the other player off,if he doesnt hit the ground then it mustnt be a serious incident.Where is the sense in this?

TheDogsBite (Meath) - Posts: 52 - 17/06/2011 18:48:39    959165

i agree dogsbite but when farrell slapped him back the kildare player didn't react back in the slighest. they had both moved on at that stage.

BettystownRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 3353 - 17/06/2011 20:23:27    959216

when brian lifted is arm the ref was looking at it if you watch it on tv there was little or not contact he should have used his common sense and move on with the game it seem like the top men don, t want any contact at all ,as for scarraboy grow up with your 31 counties against as you cannot see beyond the green of
meath

Gimp (Louth) - Posts: 34 - 17/06/2011 21:02:07    959258

Players that allow themselves to get wound up into lashing out like this are a liability to any team, there was no way the GAA CCCC were ever going to find anything different, the evidence is clear for all to see, he struck out at the other guy. The purpose of the hearing wasn't to decide "how hard" he hit him, just whether there was a stiking event which there clearly was. I watched a bit of the training matches they were playing in Pairc Tailteann this week and some of them were fighting amongst themselves in nasty little 'off the ball' spats breaking out here and there. If they can't control their tempers when playing one another, what chance have they of doing it against Louth (or others)...?

Ex_Pat (USA) - Posts: 186 - 17/06/2011 21:12:12    959269