Wicklow manager and former Armagh star Oisin McConville has claimed he shouldn't have acted the way he did towards referee Kieran Eannetta in the defeat to Sligo.
McConville and referee Eannetta got into a verbal altercation in the Division Three match against Tony McEntee’s Sligo at Markievicz Park earlier this month.
The Crossmaglen man was handed a ban following a Central Hearings Committee meeting. The Wicklow manager was suspended for “abusive language towards a referee and received a four-week ban for his participation in the altercation.
He will miss today's clash against Kildare and will also miss the game against Donegal the following weekend.
Despite receiving the ban, the Wicklow boss denies being abusive towards the Tyrone match official. He wanted to present his side of events during the Sligo game. He also admitted that he was completely wrong for the way he acted.
"I went to the referee to give my side of events, where I thought he went wrong," he told the BBC's The GAA Social podcast.
"It's not fair for me to go and question the referee at that stage. It's too late; the game is done; it's dusted. I felt as if we had cause for grievances around a lot of things that happened during the game.
"I was completely wrong; I shouldn't have addressed the referee. I didn't feel it was abusive. There was no bad language or anything used. There was no swear language used."
Wicklow manager Oisín McConville handed a four-week suspension for abuse of referee https://t.co/FwbSZPw4IY
— Irish Times Sport (@IrishTimesSport) February 8, 2024
After attending his hearing at the Hearings Committee this week, the 48-year-old has claimed that he has learned the lesson that the referee's word is final and that anything else is obsolete.
The Armagh great added: "When I went on to the Hearings Committee the other night, I was told that if the referee felt that I was being aggressive or abusive, then that was it; the line was drawn there.
"I might be 48 years old, but I learned a very solemn lesson this week: that the referee is always right. There's not much I can do about it. I have to lick my wounds.
"It's a mistake on my part, and it's come back to bite me. I'll put it down to experience, and I'll try to move on and learn from it."
Armagh's game against Kildare kicks off at 3:45 p.m.
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