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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

"Awful refereeing" slammed as decisions during Cork v Dublin descried as "very worrying"

A number of former inter-county footballers have slammed the decisions to send off both Ian Maguire and Lee Gannon during Dublin's Division 2 win over Cork on Sunday.

Both sides finished the game with 14 men after Cork's Maguire was shown two yellow cards following three fouls.

Laois referee Seamus Mulhare then sent off Dublin's Gannon after he shouldered Sean Powter off the ball.

READ MORE: Cork 2-10 Dublin 0-18 score recap and result

Jack McCaffrey made a match-winning return for the first time in three years as Dublin narrowly ran out winners at Pairc Ui Chaoimh by a score of 0-18 to 2-10.

But it was the two red cards that had many people talking after the match.

Kerry great Colm Cooper tweeted: "The standard of refereeing in Gaelic Football at the moment is very worrying."

Irish Mirror columnist and ex-Mayo player Colm Boyle added: "Awful refereeing, the first yellow for Maguire wasn’t even a foul."

Two-time All-Ireland winner and former Tyrone star Peter Canavan said on RTE's Allianz League Sunday: "I hope it's not a sign of things to come, otherwise there'll be a lot of men making the walk to the sideline.

"The first (Maguire) card, he had already been noted and the ref came in with two fingers up to say this is the second time. But it was harsh.

"The ref can go by the letter of the law and he can say I'm right to give him a second note and that means a second yellow card.

"You just look at the reaction of Ian Maguire (before the second yellow), he's convinced himself that he's never getting sent off for that."

Ex-Dublin midfielder Ciaran Whelan felt that the Maguire decision was "appalling", stating: "For the second one (Gannon sending off), we reckoned the ref was going to level it up. I think Lee Gannon lays off the ball, he expects Sean Powter to come in and he was just standing his ground.

"But the Ian Maguire red card was an appalling decision. The ref can say it's three personal fouls.

"But both sendings off were very, very soft."

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