Is Larry Reilly a headcase?

retaintheball

Watching Larry Reilly on The Sunday Game last night reminds of Francie Brady (of Butcher Boy fame). His second yellow card offence wasn't shown on the tv, but from the other highlights he should have got the line long before then. In his first incident he went in on his knees into a Down man's head as he was lying on the ground. Later he was involved in some bizarre incident where he was attempting to use another Down man like a wheelbarrow (??!!). This is not the first time I've seen him act like a deranged WWF wrestler on the field. Can anyone recommend a therapist he can talk to to divest himself of that which bugs him?

Yavvy

lol... I missed that game..but I want to see it now..just for the Wheelbarrow incident.

cournioni

Nice little Cavan connection between Francie Brady and Larry there. Yeah he was involved in quite alot of incidents yesterday, but what you failed to mention is that he was struck in the face twice in the game intentionally and was in a headlock for another. For which you should praise him for staying on his feet. Many other players (namely from Meath), would fall on the ground and start rolling around on the grass.

That is the problem with teams facing Cavan nowadays, they all seem to try and wind him up. Down were trying to wind Lyng up too, at one stage to the extent that he nearly lost his shorts!

And as for Larry's first booking, it was a total and utter disgrace. Why in the hell does a man get booked when he is trying to defend himself from a number of blows. Stupid Meath refereeing as usual. Biased towards the Cavans opposition.

As for Paddy O'Rourke, he should learn to get an idea of how to manage rather than blame the referee for their downfall in the second half. They were going to lose the game eventually regardless because of his shoddy tactics.

retaintheball

I have some sympathy for Paddy O - although Down *might* have lost the game based on tactics, a two goal swing in a game like this was huge and they wouldn't have lost only for these dubious refereeing decisions. The umpire must have seen the McCabe push before his goal, but GAA rules seem to direct that the umpire is unable to bring the ref's attention to such incidents. Am impressed by Lyng - got a cool head on his shoulders for a young lad: witness the quick thinking to set up Peter Reilly's goal.

Good result for Cavan but Armagh will surely turn them over handily enough. Cavan are a bit like Tyrone were a few years ago - never quite sure of their own ability or confident enough to answer the tough questions when asked. I expect them to melt away when Armagh turn the screw. Provided, of course, that they are not already intimidated by Armagh in their new muscle-man jerseys (see Liam Hayes' column in sunday's Trib). Reminds me of England's cling film-type jerseys in RWC 2003...

cournioni

In answer to the two dubious decisions. I was standing behind those goals and I thought that both goals were quite fair.

McCabe used his strength to muscle off Scullion for the first goal, Scullion fell to the ground looking for a free because McCabe was winning every ball that was coming near him. Have a look at the video again and see where McCabe's arms were when Scullion fell to the ground. And also have a look to see if there are any Down players protesting for the goal. You'll find that Scullion was the only one. And another example of his desperation was when he got sent off for tugging at McCabe to try and stop him from winning the ball, he was being destroyed.

The second was a lift ball by a Down man, McCabe won the ball before it touched the ground and a Down player touched it on the ground before kicking McCabe where it hurts most. (might be hard to see from the highlights but it was easy to see where I was standing).

O'Rourke had his rose tinted goggles on after the game IMO, trying to cover up his own cracks. Seriously.