Ulster unmatched for drama but that’s no excuse for rampant indiscipline

There were eerie flashbacks watching the video of Sunday's Ulster championship match between Donegal and Tyrone. For whatever reason, every time I go to Ballybofey for a championship match it rains, and not soft, summer showers but proper torrential downpours.

Just as I had viewed the match through the rivulets running down the window of the press box, the television coverage came through rain-lashed lenses that had you instinctively reaching for the windscreen wiper.

Sunday’s match was lively, certainly compared to some curtain- raisers, but there’s no escaping the reality of rain, Ulster claustrophobia and its uninhibited indifference to what anyone – neutrals, mainly – thinks.

There’s good reason for the claustrophobia because even in this era of provincial hegemonies – the same four counties have won 10 of the last 12 provincial titles – Ulster is robustly competitive, a network of border rivalries and constantly updated grievances.

Over the past two years while Dublin, Mayo and Kerry have been averaging double-digit victories in their respective provinces, Donegal’s margins last year came in at roughly half that and the year before they were actually beaten. It might have been a bad year but it makes the point that there’s no surviving bad campaigns in Ulster.

Consequently matches are edgy, intense affairs and that was the case last weekend, but that was no excuse for some of the antics. There was an uninhibited element to the misbehaviour – common-or-garden fouling, blocking and the constant hum of verbal provocation.

Both Michael Murphy and Seán Cavanagh received sufficient "attention" for it to be the subject of rumbling, ongoing reaction. Donegal manager Rory Gallagher said afterwards that Murphy was being targeted to provoke reactions that might get him into trouble.

It was hugely to Murphy’s credit that he never lost focus with Justin McMahon swinging out of him all afternoon, and dispatched demanding place kicks at the end to win the match.

Cavanagh spoke himself the following day about the depths to which on-field verbal abuse has sunk.

The Tyrone captain is worth listening to because his instincts are to address issues directly. He was an early departure from the match, getting the line for a late black card that became a red after he had been shown yellow for a grappling match with Neil Gallagher – who was lucky still to be on the pitch after getting an earlier yellow card for black-card trip.

No secret

Cavanagh, however, makes no secret of his willingness to play on the edge of whatever permissiveness a referee is showing. His comments last year on the infamous rugby tackle on Conor McManus effectively endorsed the introduction of the black card by acknowledging that players will do what they can get away with.

He is, though, an example of a player who benefits from rules. Athletic and skilful, he would benefit if footballers were allowed to play football and were those who break the rules to stop them doing so were adequately punished.

Referee Joe McQuillan did as good a job as anyone could have. He showed cards and wasn’t afraid the flash red when the accumulated misbehaviour merited it. There were, however, more black-card fouls than Cavanagh’s but the referee did not have eyes in the back of his head.

Entourage Then at half-time there was a

confrontation as the teams went off. Tyrone manager Mickey Harte tried to keep his players temporarily on the field but some of his entourage, including selector Gavin Devlin, got involved in barging into opponents. It says a lot that even with television cameras there, those involved felt no apprehension about misbehaving.

The pity about this is that the match was a decent contest. Tyrone recovered well to challenge strongly and the outcome was in doubt until the end. It might have needed a goal to level the match but Donegal haven’t looked as impregnable at the back in recent weeks.

There was still plenty to admire about the winners: their relentlessness, accuracy and speed on the break, as well as the versatility of their players, with defenders moving at pace up the field and capable of finishing moves.

As late as the 68th minute, instead of sitting back to defend a two-point lead, Donegal defender Eamonn McGee was in the right corner of the attack forcing the 45 from which Murphy scored the final point.

The tension and high stakes shouldn’t be used to excuse the indiscipline.

Rigorous enforcement would have made the match an even better spectacle: black cards where appropriate – especially for any detected verbal provocation – and proper video review of incidents such as occurred at half-time.

Were that rigour to become the norm, players and mentors would have to recognise that it might be a good idea to reassess what is and isn’t in the best interests of a team.

smoran@irishtimes.com