TWO IRELAND INTERNATIONALS in Stephen McPhail and Keith Fahey were sent off during Shamrock Rovers’ 2-1 win over St Patrick’s Athletic on Saturday.
While McPhail can have no complaints, I thought Fahey’s dismissal was a terrible decision. It was a yellow card, fine, but I don’t understand how the referee thought it was a red.
Robert Cornwall went down easily enough but that always seems to be the case in this day and age. If you’re going to send players off for doing that then they will hit the ground fairly quickly because they know it will influence the decision. That’s how the modern day has gone.
Then there is also the fear that the referee is subconsciously trying to even the game up.
Fahey’s was in no way a sending off but I thought McPhail’s was the total opposite. He seems to have lost his head and it’s unfortunate that he went to headbutt Killian Brennan. I don’t like that trait in players at all and I don’t understand why you would do that. It tends to be an act of machoism and is quite common in the game, which I always find strange.
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I’ve lost the head myself as a player and was sent off four times in my career but they would have all been for tackles. One was a very rash challenge and it was definitely an act of frustration.
It was for St Pat’s against Faz Kuduzović, who was at the time with Cork City. We were getting beaten 3-0 after half an hour and I just said ‘I’ve had enough’. I didn’t go to hurt him but I got to the stage that I just didn’t want to be on the pitch anymore.
I’m aware that I’ve just talked about the incidents but it’s important not to go on about them too much. You look at the Suarez biting incident and there was just so much made of it in the media.
I don’t know Stephen that well but you would like to think that judging his character it is an isolated incident and I would be very much surprised if it happened again. He certainly seems like the sort of player who would learn from an experience like that.
I thought that result on Saturday was a significant one. Pat’s are conceding too many goals — they have shipped 23 goals already this season which is more than any other of the top eight sides.
They are playing with a system that should mean they are defensively set up right but it’s not happening. One thing that is evident to me, and this is the case with a lot of the teams, the quality of defending has been awful.
Clubs seem content with getting 11 men behind the ball and believing that is enough. What you’re seeing is that there is no pressure on the ball. In an effective defensive set-up, you need to be closing down your opponent all the time.
It’s basic defending but some of the clubs are conceding silly goals and it’s awful to watch.
