Éire Óg to appeal Eoin O’Shea's late red: He's never been in trouble with referees

Manager Harry O’Reilly says Éire Óg will be appealing Eoin O’Shea’s red card after the controversial sending off in the SAFC.

Éire Óg are into the quarter-finals, but they may have to do it without the services of their full-forward.

O’Shea was controversially sent off by referee Cormac Dineen moments before the final whistle in their 1-14 to 0-12 victory against Kilshanning in Donoughmore after apparently voicing his displeasure with a decision made by the linesman.

Speaking after the game, O’Reilly shed light on the situation.

“I spoke to the referee after the game and he said Eoin O’Shea had shouted at the linesman saying ‘ah for God’s sake’. The linesman took that as abusive language so the referee had to act, but we will be appealing the decision.”

“I’ll be very hopeful we’ll have Eoin for the next game. He’s a good lad, he’s never been in trouble with referees, has never been sent off, rarely gets a yellow card, so I don’t think there should be any issue.”

The red card might have put a slight dampener on the afternoon for Éire Óg, but O’Reilly remained positive about the day’s triumph.

“Conditions were difficult, it was a really strong wind there, but today wasn’t really about the performance it was about getting the results and moving on to the knockout stage of the championship so we’re delighted to be there.”

A Dylan Foley goal settled matters late on for O’Reilly’s charges, but Éire Óg have secret weapon Chris Kelly to thank just as much as Foley, after the goalkeeper contributed five points — the most of any Éire Óg player — four of those being two two-pointers from dead balls.

O’Reilly spoke of Kelly being a vital ingredient in the team’s success.

Chris is brilliant. His two-pointers are absolutely vital especially in a game like this when the wind is blowing hard.

“He did his job down the other end too, made a brilliant save at the beginning of the second half and even caught a few balls that looked like they were about to go over the bar. He’s a serious keeper in fairness to him.”

TOUGH

The Ovens outfit will play Bishopstown in the quarter-finals in two weeks and while preparation is on O’Reilly’s mind, he is aware that dual responsibilities can take its toll on players.

“Two weeks is championship, so we’ll train as we always do, Tuesday and Friday like a normal week. We’ll probably have an easier week this week, the last few have been hectic with both hurling and football. It’s been go, go, go.

“So we’ll take it easy this week and then build it up again for the following week in preparation for the quarters.”

On the topic of recuperation, O’Reilly was quick to confirm that none of his players picked up any serious injuries despite a couple of being hauled off late in the game with issues.

“Nothing major at all, just a couple of your normal knocks and bruises. It’s a tough physical game so you’re always going to get those.”

Kanturk will take on Knocknagree in the other quarter-final while Cill na Martra and Ballingeary progress to the semi-finals. Fermoy and O’Donovan Rossa will meet in the relegation play-off.