Donegal football manager Declan Bonner is strongly critical of the standard of refereeing. His comments come after his team lost a third successive National Football League tie by only a point after a match which culminated in a brawl during the eight minutes of injury-time.

The incident came after Tyrone goalkeeper Finbar McConnell was penalised after catching a dropping ball, despite claims that he had been fouled.

"There was a bit of a melee," says Bonner. "The ball dropped in on Finbar McConnell and he appeared to overhold it. There was a bit of a skirmish and a couple of players were a bit bruised and battered but that was it. The referee didn't take any action. He booked three of ours early on but after that put the book away. We lost Ollie Reid with a nasty injury but no action was taken."

In the immediate aftermath, Bonner's Tyrone counterpart Danny Ball had attributed the fracas to "a bad refereeing decision" but yesterday, although allowing that he didn't know "where eight minutes of injury-time came from", Ball added that he didn't "want to go down the road of criticising the referee".

Bonner, however, believes that refereeing standards are in decline and believes that former intercounty players could play a role in improving matters. During the 1940s and '50s, it was common for even current players to referee and Peter McDermott of Meath actually played in an All-Ireland final having refereed one.

"The standard of refereeing has definitely diminished," according to Bonner. "Team preparation has moved on and sides are fit and well-prepared but some referees are not able to keep up with play. I'm already banned from the sideline against Armagh (in the championship) so there's very little I can say without getting into more trouble.

"From match to match, rules seem to change and players get pulled for different things. There's no consistency. We lost an Ulster final because of a bad decision when John Duffy's goal was disallowed for a square ball despite the fact you could see him a yard outside the square.

"You're training four and five nights a week to lose by bad refereeing decisions. It's not on. I know refereeing is difficult and I wouldn't fancy doing it myself but a lot of referees have not played the game to a high standard.

"To be quite honest, there should be more of an incentive for former intercounty players to become intercounty referees. When you've played at a high level, you've a better feel for it. If guys had played at that level, they'd know that players are out to do a job. Their football instincts would let the match go.

"I'm talking about lads in their mid-30s although I'm sure about 99 per cent of them wouldn't want to do it. You get certain situations in a match and a referee who refs by the rule book alone often ends up with a match turning into a farce. Common sense should prevail.

"Yesterday we had a stop-start match. We got bad decisions and Tyrone got bad decisions. You can't fault the referee every time you lose a match but we do need more consistency."

On the playing front, Tyrone's victory moved them up onto four points and although Danny Ball feels that the play-offs are a "bit of a long shot", his team is beginning to take on a more familiar feel with other well-known names still to return from injury: Seamus McCallan, Ronan McGarrity and Stephen Lawn, all of whom played in the 1995 All-Ireland final against Dublin.

One outstanding prospect being spared league activity is Cormac McAnallen, captain of Tyrone's All-Ireland winning minors last year. Currently eligible for a host of teams, McAnallen is an influential member of the Queen's, Belfast, side hoping to make it a home win in the Sigerson Cup next month.

"We're not calling him up at the moment," says Ball. "He's playing a lot of football at present and we'll give him some time. He's only 18 and has plenty of football ahead of him."

Meanwhile, Dublin manager Tom Carr has defended the 16-point mauling of Leitrim at Parnell Park on Sunday. "I think you never pull back or you should never be seen to pull back. I mean where do you draw the line? Seven points, 10 points, 12 points? I'd be disappointed if we went 12 up and only won by two.

"I said after the match it's not a nice changing room to be in after losing by 16 points. And you've a group of players who have put time, effort and travelling into their preparation. You can certainly introduce fringe players you want to have a look at and that's what we did but you can't instruct a team to go handy."