LONDON will lodge an appeal against the red card shown to Lorcan Mulvey in Sunday’s defeat to Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds in Division Four of the Allianz Football League.
Mulvey was given his marching orders by referee Keith O’Brien with just four minutes on the clock after the Cavan native was deemed to have struck a Limerick defender off-the-ball.
London’s centre-forward protested his innocence but was shown a straight red card, a decision the London players and management felt was harsh.
“We thought it was, but it’s not our decision to make,” manager Paul Coggins (pictured) told The Irish Post. “But referees are under pressure, they’re there to do a job and I’m not going to argue with the decisions they make. But I just feel on this occasion that we may have something to fall back on.
“Lorcan is extremely disappointed. Nobody could really understand it, even on the Limerick side. It seemed very innocuous.”
Mulvey is expected to be handed a two-match ban but Coggins is hopeful of having any suspension quashed. The London boss has pointed to the example of Cork forward Paul Kerrigan, who had a two-match suspension overturned last week following his dismissal in their draw with Armagh.
Coggins said: “We’ll be looking at it and the chances are that we will appeal it. We’ll speak to the County Board about that to see what the procedures are. I see Paul Kerrigan had his ban overturned so all is not lost. If we go down that route we’ll possibly bring video evidence.”
Mulvey was sent off during his club Fulham Irish’s All-Ireland Club Football quarter-final defeat to St Brigid’s in December, while his last championship appearance for Cavan – against Wicklow in 2010 – also ended with a red card.
However, on the back of Sunday’s seemingly harsh decision, Coggins dismisses suggestions that Mulvey has built up a reputation as an undisciplined player and is now suffering as a result.
“The only reputation I would associate with Lorcan is that he’s a tough individual with a great heart who’s been a great addition to the London squad,” said the London boss. “As far as I’m concerned he doesn’t have a bad reputation.
“He got sent off for two yellow cards against St Brigid’s and that was awful unlucky. I think he was unlucky too on Sunday. Lorcan is a physical player, it’s a physical game and we’re there to be physical. I don’t believe Lorcan is a player who crosses that line in any shape or form.”
Coggins declared himself “extremely happy” with London’s performance at the Gaelic Grounds last weekend and paid tribute to how his players responded to Mulvey’s early sending-off.
He said: “It was a really, really huge effort from the players, especially to keep it going in the second-half. We fought very hard and defended extremely well.
“We’re extremely happy with the performance of the lads overall. We have to take the positives from that. As satisfactory as the performance was, the lads weren’t totally happy because they want to keep getting better.
“The primary thing for us was the performance. The result is obviously always important but it’s not quite as important as the performance at this stage.
“We’ve given ourselves a good foundation now so all the boys are looking forward to improving on that. I strongly believe that if those lads put in the work and we all stick together, the results will come.”
Meanwhile, London’s game against Fermanagh, which was postponed last week due to snow, has been rescheduled for this Sunday at Ruislip at 1pm.
* See this week's print edition of The Irish Post for a match report of Limerick v London and reaction from Exiles skipper Sean McVeigh
