Armagh will study footage of Rian O’Neill’s controversial red card before deciding whether to appeal his sending off against Tyrone in Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC clash in Omagh.
The Red Hands claimed a deserved 0-13 to 0-11 victory over their Ulster rivals to end a run of four Championship games without a win.
However, the main talking point of the game was the straight red card issued by referee Martin McNally to O’Neill after an off-the-ball clash with Tyrone defender Cormac Quinn just before the half hour mark.
Read more: Recap how Tyrone resists comeback to top 14-man Armagh in Championship epic
Speaking to reporters after the match, Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney said he had not seen replays of the incident at the time, but had spoken to O’Neill to get his version.
“Rian says someone knocked him down by the shirt,” McGeeney said.
“He tried to get up three or four times and someone got the shirt. I haven’t seen any TV footage of it, but I’m sure we’ll get a fair hearing.”
Asked if Armagh will appeal the decision to try to clear their joint captain to face Galway in the third round tie in a fortnight’s time, McGeeney stressed that they will examine the footage before making a final decision.
Losing his star player in such a crucial game, McGeeney added: “Those kinds of things are probably immeasurable. He’s been scoring, not a lot, but leading a lot.
“He’s a great character on the team and he’s a big hit. After missing all the chances to score and that, that aggravated us for about 10 minutes and it was very difficult for us to get going at the end of the first half.
McGeeney felt that Armagh should have been well ahead of the game before O’Neill’s red card.
Niall Morgan came into action twice in the first quarter. The Tyrone goalkeeper made a great save to prevent Conor Turbitt from reaching into the net in the first minute before denying Jason Duffy after 14 minutes.
Armagh also created some overlap with Morgan falling back towards his target, but some rogue passes proved costly, much to the frustration of the Armagh boss.
“We had three or four scoring chances in the first 15 minutes and we must have kept the game out of sight,” added the Orchard County manager.
“For me, when you go down to 14 men, there has to be an adaptation period, which we had and they got two or three points. Even in that period, we also missed two or three easy chances.
“I thought the guys showed real character. She has shown all year that she can live with any team. It’s just our execution that has been poor at times.
“It wasn’t just the scoring chances, we had them running back three times and then a bad pass set them free. I think we were very energetic to move the ball forward.”
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