John Kiely says Limerick will try to have Gearoid Hegarty's second yellow card rescinded after he was sent off late in Limerick's Munster Hurling Championship draw with Clare on Sunday.
Hegarty was booked for a second time after swinging his hurley towards Aaron Fitzgerald. The Clare player hit the ground in pain. Kiely added that there is a "narrative" surrounding Hegarty which he believes is affecting the decision-making of referees.
"We’ve watched it back there on the tape and it’s quite clear that there's no contact," Kiely told reporters.
"The player basically just grabbed his stomach and has thrown himself down on the ground - there was no contact.
"It’s very disappointing. It was much ado about nothing. It’s a card we’ll expect to be rescinded completely. It's right and fair for Gearoid. It's very clear from the footage that there isn't a yellow card there. It's an error, and we'll be asking for that error to be rectified.
15 May 2022; Referee Colm Lyons shows a yellow catrd to Gearóid Hegarty of Limerick, 10, during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 4 match between Clare and Limerick at Cusack Park in Ennis, Clare. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Kiely continued: "Those double yellows do carry forward some significance. It's important that decisions are rectified if there is a mistake made, and I think it's clear in this instance that there is a mistake there.
"There’s a narrative there at the moment that Gearóid is playing on the edge or doing x, y, or z, and it’s feeding into people’s decision-making. It needs to stop, because it’s going to have a big impact and it’s just disappointing, really disappointing.
"It was a great game. A lot of physicality to the game. It was a tremendous contest. It is just really disappointing. There was nothing there. We’ve seen the video footage. It is there for everyone to see. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t take from the overall game."
Kiely said that he and his management team will be "guarding against" the possibility that Hegarty could change his game due to the red cards he has received.
"Gearoid is a very honest player, just like the rest of the lads we have," said Kiely.
"They work extremely hard. They're very focussed on getting their tackle in.
"Gearoid is a very experienced player at this stage. He's well able to cope with that attention, that expectation that might be out there."
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