Cavanagh unhappy with match officials

Tyrone captain Sean Cavanagh says it is "frustrating" that match officials do not do more to protect forwards.

Cavanagh was shown a red card in the 59th minute of Tyrone's one-point All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Mayo on Saturday, for a second bookable offence following an earlier yellow card for an altercation with his marker Lee Keegan.

The five-time All Star, who appealed for protection from linesman David Coldrick during the first half at Croke Park, believes the match officials are nervous about making big calls and prefer to leave decisions to the referee.

"Sometimes in these big games, in my opinion, linesmen and umpires just don’t take those calls as much as they should do,” the former Footballer of the Year, 33, told The Irish Times.

"I had brought it to the attention to a few of the linesmen and umpires that any time you were trying to make a run, the run was being checked and you were being pulled and dragged.

"It does become frustrating at times, because I was trying to make the point that 90 percent of the time it’s not the forward who wants to drag a defender. It’s the other way around.

"It was difficult then to try and get on the ball and try and get the space to have an impact on the game. That was frustrating.

"But that wasn’t just unique for Saturday. It has been happening for a long time in our game, and in my opinion it’s probably something that needs to be stamped out of the game."

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