John Cleary frustrated with Brady suspension while key defender is a doubt for Meath

Cork manager John Cleary has expressed his frustration with Seán Brady’s soft sending off in the loss to Kerry last month.

The Ballygarvan player was given a straight red card in the extra time defeat to the Kingdom in the Munster SFC semi-final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Rebels take on Meath in Páirc Tailteann on Saturday with throw-in at 3pm in the All-Ireland Group 2 Round 1 encounter.

The red card was controversial and despite an appeal, it was upheld meaning Brady will sit out at the weekend. Cleary is far from happy about it.

“I think it was very disappointing,” he said on Tuesday evening on the red card. 

“We were disappointed when Seán was sent off and to compound it, he appealed it and it wasn’t successful.

“Anyone I spoke to all over the country couldn’t understand why he was sent off and yet when he appealed it, they doubled down on it, which was disappointing.

“There’s a new system in place now where you can’t appeal the actual incident, all you can do is appeal the technicality. I don’t think too many would have said it was a sending off.

“I think what Seán was sent off for was behaving in a manner of endangering an opponent. If they’re going to use that every time a fella goes for a ball or a 50-50 ball, there is an element of danger always there.

“We exhausted every avenue. We have put it behind us. Disappointing for Seán himself, but there’s nothing else we can do now. He loses out this weekend."

In terms of injuries, Tommy Walsh, who went off injured against Kerry with a heel injury, is a doubt for the weekend while Kevin O’Donovan is a long-term absentee.

“Tommy Walsh is struggling a bit. He's doubtful for the weekend. Kevin O’Donovan is out. He won’t make any of the three group games. Other than that, I think we are OK. A few knocks and bruises and we’ll see how they go this week.

“Conor Corbett suffered an injury last summer and he's back in training now over a month. We’ve two more training sessions to go and then we’ll decide if he will be in contention. He picked up a cruciate injury.

“You look at Paddy Lynch from Cavan. I think it was 13 months he was out for. Conor is back after just over eight months. So, he’s made huge strides to get back on the field and the last thing we want to do is be putting him at risk now. Whether he’s physically right to go, we’ll just wait until the last minute before deciding.

“There’s no secret, during the league we had a lot of guys carrying knocks and bruises and injuries. Thanks be to God most of them have cleared up. We’re facing three games now in four weeks, possibly maybe six in seven weeks, so we’re going to need everyone.” Cleary concluded.