GAELIC GAMES:DUBLIN AND Meath came to Parnell Park yesterday with the promise of a fiery climax to Division Two of the National Football League, and promptly turned it into an ugly eruption of indiscipline. Not even the exciting finish could make up for the overtly malicious and reckless exchanges of the opening 15 minutes, which had that unpleasant feeling akin to witnessing a late-night street brawl.

Five straight red cards, 11 yellow cards and an inexcusable punch thrown by Dublin's Ciarán Whelan will therefore raise the inevitable furore of abhorrence and condemnation. Just as well Dublin held on for the one-point win, thus securing promotion to Division One. A draw would have meant the teams went into a play-off, and God Almighty wouldn't want to referee that.

As it turned out, the most impressive performance came from match referee Paddy Russell. He'd clearly learned a lesson from two years ago, when he officiated at the infamous Battle of Omagh between Dublin and Tyrone.

This time, after a mass brawl broke out after just four minutes, Russell showed straight red cards to Dublin's Bernard Brogan and Paddy Andrews and Meath's Niall McKeigue and Shane McAnarney. About four minutes after that was sorted, he also showed Whelan a straight red after a blatant punch on defender Seamus Kenny.

"Mission accomplished," commented Dublin manager Paul Caffrey, and we could only assume he was referring to their promotion. "Great credit to the lads. That's what we set out to do at the start of the year. And we've achieved it."

Caffrey, however, did condemn the early brawl, which at one point had 29 of the 30 players on the pitch there or thereabouts: "No, it's not what we wanted to see. But Paddy Russell had his job to do, and I thought he did it well out there. We take it on the chin and move on. And look forward to playing Westmeath in the final.

"Nobody likes to see that on a football field. But I don't think there was any real malice in any of it. We in the Dublin dressing-room would have great respect for Paddy Russell. He's had a couple of hard days with us, but great credit to him. I thought he did a fine job overall."

Meath manager Colm Coyle took a slightly softer stance when asked if he felt four players deserved to see red:

"Sure, you couldn't say. But I would have found it hard to pick out the four that were picked out. But then I was at the far side of the pitch. So I'll do an Arsene Wenger on it. 'I didn't see any of my lads doing anything'.

"But no, I don't think either team would have planned that. A lot of these things can be nipped in the bud. It was a blatant free, and that's what started it."