{"id":467745,"date":"2026-05-26T12:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T12:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/467745\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T12:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T12:23:08","slug":"incident-between-jim-mcguinness-and-diarmuid-oconnor-not-believed-to-be-mentioned-in-referees-report-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/467745\/","title":{"rendered":"Incident between Jim McGuinness and Diarmuid O\u2019Connor not believed to be mentioned in referee\u2019s report \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The incident between Jim McGuinness<\/a> and Diarmuid O\u2019Connor at half-time of Saturday\u2019s All-Ireland SFC <\/a>clash between Donega<\/a>l and Kerry <\/a>at Fitzgerald Stadium is not believed to have been directly mentioned in referee Se\u00e1n Hurson\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

If McGuinness was reported by Hurson for a Category IVa (II) offence \u2013 \u201cany type of physical interference with an opposing player or team official\u201d \u2013 then the minimum penalty would be a 12-week suspension.<\/p>\n

However, it is understood the flashpoint has not been referenced in the referee\u2019s report \u2013 so it is now up to the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) as to whether they wish to use video evidence to pursue any disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

It is believed Hurson\u2019s report does mention the half-time flashpoint involving players, managers and backroom members, but not the McGuinness-O\u2019Connor exchange. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Stephen Rochford: Jim McGuinness was in the wrong, but he deserves to be cut some slackOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Tyrone referee did address both McGuinness and Kerry manager Jack O\u2019Connor<\/a> on the pitch before the start of the second half last Saturday, requesting both management teams to clear their respective sidelines.<\/p>\n

Comparisons have been made with the physical altercation which led to Dublin manager Ger Brennan receiving a 12-week suspension following a clash with Galway\u2019s strength and conditioning coach Cian Breathnach McGinn during a league fixture at Pearse Stadium in March.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jim McGuinness made a huge error of judgment \u2013 there will be a price to payOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But it is not a direct equivalent as Brennan was sanctioned by the referee at the time, with Fergal Kelly showing both men a red card, leaving the CCCC little option but to recommend the minimum 12-week ban.<\/p>\n

McGuinness was not sanctioned in Killarney at the time of the incident, or at the start of the second half when Hurson chatted to both managers. Evan Looney was shown a yellow card and Miche\u00e1l Burns received a straight red.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The incident between Jim McGuinness and Diarmuid O\u2019Connor at half-time of Saturday\u2019s All-Ireland SFC clash between Donegal and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6937,6342,110979,61,60,13018,112],"class_list":["post-467745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-kerry-gaa","tag-donegal-gaa","tag-football-championship","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-mcguinness","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}