KO BLOW! – ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIERS ROUND1

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS

Monaghan manager Séamus McEnaney was incensed after his side exited the All-Ireland SFC amid a controversial finish against Mayo in Castlebar. 2021 All-Ireland finalists Mayo, who had led almost throughout the game, were almost caught at the end when they gifted Monaghan possession inside their own square, but for the second time during the final stages, the visitors’ appeals for a penalty were waved away by Barry Cassidy.

McEnaney said: “I’m not going to sugar-coat things here. We are very disappointed. We think it was a stonewall penalty there at the end. I thought the refereeing decisions were terrible in two or three scenarios. There’s no grey area. We were robbed of a penalty, we were robbed of extra time, we were robbed of another opportunity. The Mayo penalty was touch and go. I’m 20 years managing teams and 15 years managing Monaghan, off and on, and never in my lifetime did I complain about a referee, but (Saturday) was disgraceful. We can manage, we can build a backroom team, we can get the best players in Monaghan to play football, but we cannot legislate…