All-Ireland SFC: Jason Duffy black card ‘harsh’ – Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney

Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney felt the black card shown to Jason Duffy in their 1-18 to 1-13 win over Derry in their opening All-Ireland SFC game was “harsh”.

Duffy was shown the card on 42 minutes for a late hit on Conor McCluskey but the Ulster champions still went on to claim a comfortable victory.

McGeeney was critical of the performance of referee Martin McNally and had made his feelings known to the officials at half-time after a perceived missed breach.

“There was plenty out there and that seemed to be the one that was punished. It was harsh, but what can you do,” he said.

“The less I talk about referees the better. There’s a lot of good referees out there trying to do well but I think our focus can be on the wrong things at times. I think we need to know what rules to ignore to tell our players,” McGeeney also joked on the topic of officials letting more go.

“I think everyone needs to know the parameters of the game. I don’t think it’s that complicated. We have rules we don’t enforce. You’re getting me talking about referees again and it’s not my favourite subject.”

On his side’s performance, McGeeney added that the Orchard County were “very workman like” in getting over the line.

“It was tough at times going down to 14 men, the fellas controlled the ball and didn’t give too much away. Our efficiency in front of goal wasn’t as good as we liked.”