O'Gara to appeal red card

Dublin will appeal the red card that is set to keep Eoghan O’Gara out of the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry on 28 August.

The Dublin forward was sent off in the second half of the 1-15 to 1-10 quarter-final victory over Donegal after a clash with Neil McGee, but manager Jim Gavin says the All-Ireland champions will appeal the mandatory one-match suspension.

The 30-year-old was shown a red card by referee Ciaran Brannagan for a slap at McGee's stomach after the Donegal defender pulled on his jersey.

"I think so, yeah [that Dublin will appeal the ban]," Gavin told the Irish Times.

"The players know my feeling about if you raise your hand and make contact with somebody’s head, that you are going to get sent off and get no sympathy from me."

Dublin finished the Croke Park semi-final with 13 men, following the dismissal of Diarmuid Connolly for a second yellow card, and Gavin believes referees are failing to deal properly with opponents who are trying to get the St Vincents' clubman sent off.

"It was a source of disappointment that for a team that wants to play the game the way we want to that we, Dublin, end up with 13 men," he continued.

"That is the surprising bit I find. It is probably a question you need to ask the officials on that one.

"It was all very predictable going into it; we all knew that some of our players would receive special attention.

"That was the case. It was up to the officials to act upon it. If they don’t, the eight of them, four umpires and four men in black, if they don’t act upon it they are letting the players down on the pitch. On both sides by the way."

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