The images did little for James McCarthy's case. Shortly before both he and Donegal captain saw red, a stray thumb appeared to make contact with the eye of Martin McElhinney and, given the high profile nature of the game, it was always going to be a flashpoint that was looked at under a microscope after the final whistle. And so it has proved.
Footage has been slowed down, screenshots have been taken and, taken in isolation, it certainly doesn't look overly positive. Understandably, questions have been asked as to whether McCarthy can expect some retrospective punishment in the near future.
For his part, Donegal boss Rory Gallagher was having none of that immediately after Saturday's game. 'I didn’t see anything' said Gallagher. 'Look, none of our players are complaining about anything, definitely not.'
When the same allegations were put to Jim Gavin on Newstalk on Saturday night, the Dublin boss, who had yet to see a replay of the incident, was having none of the suggestions of maliciousness.
I think that’s a very strong allegation you’re making there to me, particularly since I haven’t seen the tape. To be suggesting there was something malicious, I don’t think that’s very fair.
There are lots of incidents in the game, if you slow them down to the tenth of a second playback, things won’t look as pretty as they would in real time.
That may well be the case, but that's the nature of sports media at this point in time. Flashpoints like the one that was seen on Saturday will inevitably be jumped upon and slowed down to a tenth of a second. That may be inconvenient at times, but it seems certain that, one way or another, this won't be the last we hear of this particular incident.
