FRC PROPOSALS:Jim McGuinness is in favour of the FRC's proposal to treat All-Ireland finals as a special case in the disciplinary process.
Under the amendments announced this week, players who pick up three black cards in a season will serve a one-match ban – except if that game happens to be an All-Ireland final.
Although it could be perceived as a move designed to favour the elite teams, McGuinness agrees with the amnesty for All-Ireland finals. “I don’t think anyone deserves to miss out on a date like that,” said the All-Ireland winning manager.
“Tensions are very high in a semi-final and a rush of blood to the head, when you are trying to do your best . . . it’s just that sometimes people are blinded and to lose out in that situation would be terrible for anyone.
“They wouldn’t get over it, I would imagine. The player would simply not get over it so I think that is a very good thing.”
Despite only returning home from the team’s Dubai holiday on Tuesday night, McGuinness is already well versed on the modifications to the harsh proposal which would have seen players dismissed for every yellow card offence.
If the new black card proposal is passed, five categories of fouls which fall short of red card status would see players sent off for the remainder of the game.
While largely in favour of the changes, he is concerned that the cumulative effect of players getting banned for picking up three black cards in a season will unfairly punish teams from the larger provinces.
“If you are in the preliminary round of the Ulster championship, you have three or four very tough games where you could end up picking up those three yellow or black cards,” McGuinness explained.
“In other provinces, that would not be the case and you could have a very easy draw all the way through to the provincial final.
“You could end up in the All-Ireland quarter-final stage and even if you get a yellow (or black) card in each game, after that you won’t miss the All-Ireland final.
“I would have a problem with that in terms of the fairness of the system.”
Meanwhile, McGuinness is not expecting to have Player of the Year Karl Lacey available for any of the Allianz league campaign.
He confirmed Lacey’s hip operation before Christmas was a success and the player should be back jogging in two to three weeks.
However, he is determined that the four-time All Star will not be rushed back before he is “perfect”.
