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There were some hair-raising moments for Joe Brolly in today's semi final. RTÉ screengrab
Ref Justice

Brolly: referee gave Mayo a penalty to make up for disallowed goal 'balls-up'

The former Derry player was in full agreement with his RTÉ punditry partner Pat Spillane for once.

IT IS A rare occasion when RTÉ pundits Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane find common ground on a subject. However, the duo were in agreement that Mayo were awarded a soft penalty in the All-Ireland semi final victory over Tyrone.

Alan Freeman slammed home a second-half penalty for Mayo after Colm Boyle was fouled near the 13-metre line. The goal put James Horan’s men ahead for the first time in the contest and they ended up winning by six points despite some lacklustre shooting.

Referee Maurice Deegan had ruled out a Freeman goal when he controversially opted to award a free against Tyrone’s Conor Gormley rather than allow play to develop.

Speaking after the 1-16 to 0-13 Mayo victory, Brolly declared, “After [Deegan] screwed up the goal so badly, Mayo were entitled to get a break… It doesn’t look like a penalty in the first place.”

Spillane commented, “If it was a foul it was clearly outside the 13-metre line… Maurice Deegan was in no place to judge because he was 25 yards behind the [incident].”

imageBoyle goes down beyond the 13-metre line but he may have been tackled before he got there. Credit: RTÉ

Brolly added, “What [Deegan] was trying to do was make up for the balls-up he made in the first half.”

What do you think? Should Mayo have been awarded a penalty?

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