Rose Tinted Glasses Or A Visit To The Optician Required?

Monday 06.06.2011

Club

There is an old saying along the lines of “as doctors differ, patients die” and I suppose in many ways football supporters, players and managers can at times seem like the doctors in question. I was mildly amused to hear that Darren Hughes felt that in his team’s match with Tyrone the players felt as if they were playing against an extra man. Well to an extent that is true but he might need to speak to his team captain about that because it was his over zealous approach to Gaelic Football that led to them facing that extra man for most of the game.

The Monaghan full back was actually speaking about the ref’s display implying that he was against Monaghan. He further alleged that the referee said something to him during the game which caused him serious upset. I wonder was it along the lines of what Kieran Duffy was continually saying to Stevie O’Neill during the game or perhaps Hughes, in spite of being a very physical and talented player, is supersensitive and finds any sort of verbal reproach difficult to cope with.

If the Farney number three takes another look at the game he might notice that his team got more than their fair share of decisions. He might even notice that he himself was lucky to remain on the pitch following one incident along the line on the terrace side in the second half. Monaghan lost out yesterday because their discipline let them down and it cost them in the long run. Cormac Reilly could have been even sorer on them than he was and in my view they were lucky to finish with thirteen players.

However that is just my opinion and as we all know, and Darren Hughes is about to find out, opinions count for very little in Gaelic football.