Derry's 2024 Championship took another unfortunate twist this evening in Salthill as they were beaten by Galway. Mickey Harte's men are winless since their famous victory over Dublin in the Division One final on Easter Sunday.
While the Donegal defeat was something of an ambush, tonight's match was always going to be tricky. Galway were fit and at home and have momentum. Historically, they cause Derry problems.
Derry did not do themselves any favours, however. A moment of madness from Gareth McKinless saw him stand on the ankle of a prostrate Damien Comer. After some consultation with his linesmen, ref Brendan Cawley - who'd initially awarded Galway a free - gave McKinless his marching orders.
Galway did not look back and ended up winning by 2-14 to 0-15.
Mickey Harte reacts to Gareth McKinless Red Card
Speaking to GAA GO after the game, Mickey Harte gave his verdict on the incident. He was critical of the decision to award the free in the first place, and said 'theatrical movements' from had been instrumental in the awarding of the free.
My view of it is it wasn't even a free in the first place. If you look closely at it, I think there was a bit of theatrical movements in the whole thing.
But having said that, I didn't see the finer detail. Looking at it, I thought to myself, 'that's not even a free.' I didn't see anything happening, I wasn't even looking in the direction of what was happening there.
I saw the referee go on in and say, 'I'm going to play on'
Look, I haven't got the fine eye to see the detail. I'll leave that to others.
Comer had collected the ball and began one of his trademark runs up the field. McKinless pursued him, lunged after him and Comer fell after their legs tangled. Most neutral observers would consider it a free. The 'theatrical movements' followed the stamp.
Here's the moment where Comer went down.
And had Harte access to video replay, we can be sure he'd agree that Cawley had no choice but to give McKinless a red card.
It leaves Derry in a very tricky spot ahead of a meeting with Armagh next time out. As Cahair O'Kane has pointed out on Twitter, McKinless is likely to face at least a two-game ban. Given Derry's injury situation, it's hardly ideal.
On the whole, Harte took positives from the game.
We asked for a performance from our players that we didn't get against Donegal. And we got a performance today. We didn't get the result. We didn't get the outcome, but that's life.
